The Board of Commissioners is The Joint Commission’s governing body, providing policy leadership and oversight. Board members govern The Joint Commission with a dedication to its mission to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations.  The full board meets three times a year, with an additional retreat focused on The Joint Commission’s strategic direction.

Board members have diverse experience in health care, business, and public policy. The board consists of 29 voting members, including physicians, administrators, nurses, employers, a labor representative, health plan leaders, quality experts, ethicists, a consumer advocate and educators. Commissioners serve three-year terms that are renewable for up to three terms.

Many board members have clinical experience in the health care fields that The Joint Commission serves, including ambulatory care, behavioral health care, health care networks, home care, hospice, hospitals, laboratories, long term care and assisted living. In addition, advice from experts in these fields is routinely obtained. Three at-large representatives of the home care, behavioral health care, and long term care fields participate in Board of Commissioners meetings in a non-voting capacity. These direct links to the current health care environment enable board members to guide The Joint Commission in developing state-of-the-art evaluation services.

Board committees and other activities

There are six standing board committees: Executive, Accreditation, Standards and Survey Procedures, Finance and Audit, Human Resources and Compensation, and Governance. Other board committees and task forces in existence in 2009 include the Board Appeal Review Committee and two Strategic Issues Work Groups on Enhancing the Value of Accreditation and Performance Measurement.  

Six members of the Board of Commissioners also serve on the Board of Directors of Joint Commission Resources, Inc., a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission that provides national and international consulting for the health care community in addition to worldwide accreditation services. The JCR board also includes nine external representatives.

Board members also serve on or are liaisons to a number of other Joint Commission groups including: Professional and Technical Advisory Committees, the Nursing Advisory Council, the Business Advisory Group, the Surveyor Advisory Committee, and an advisory group devoted to patient  and family issues. 

2009 Board of Commissioners

Chair
David A. Whiston, D.D.S. 
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeon
Falls Church, Va.

Vice chair
Isabel V. Hoverman, M.D., M.A.C.P.
Internist
Austin Internal Medicine Associates, LLP
Austin, Texas

Rhonda M. Anderson, R.N., D.N.Sc(h)., F.A.A.N., F.A.C.H.E.
Pediatric Administrator and Regional Pediatric Service Line Administrator
Cardon Children's Medical Center
Mesa, Ariz.

David L. Bronson, M.D., F.A.C.P.
Chairman
The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Medicine Institute
Cleveland, Ohio

Alexander M. Capron
University Professor
Scott H. Bice Chair in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics
Professor of Law and Medicine
Co-Director, Pacific Center for Health Policy and Ethics
University of Southern California Gould School of Law
Los Angeles, Calif.

Mark R. Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H.
President
The Joint Commission
Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

Marilyn P. Chow, R.N., D.N.Sc., F.A.A.N.
Vice President, National Patient Care Services
Kaiser Permanente
Oakland, Calif.

Benjamin Chu, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.C.P.
President, Southern California Region
Kaiser Foundation Health Plan and Hospitals
Pasadena, Calif.

Ilene Corina
President
PULSE of New York, Inc.
Wantagh, N.Y.

T. Anthony Denton, J.D., M.H.A.
Senior Associate Director and Chief Operating Officer
University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers
Ann Arbor, Mich.

Joseph T. English, M.D.
System Chairman
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers of New York
Sidney E. Frank Professor, Chairman and Associate Dean
New York Medical College
New York, N.Y.

Joseph M. Heyman, M.D.
Gynecologist
Amesbury Health Center
Amesbury, Mass.

M. Nicole Jamali, M.D.
Internist and Hospitalist
Aliso Viejo, Calif.

Craig W. Jones, F.A.C.H.E.
President
Oklahoma Hospital Association
Oklahoma City, Okla.

Edward L. Langston, M.D., R.Ph.
Family Physician
Private Practice
Lafayette, Ind.

Eric B. Larson, M.D., M.P.H., M.A.C.P.
Executive Director, Center for Health Studies
Group Health Cooperative
Seattle, Wash.

Mary Anne McCaffree, M.D.
Professor of Pediatrics
University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center
Oklahoma City, Okla.

LaMar S. McGinnis, Jr., M.D., F.A.C.S.
Senior Medical Advisor and Liaison
American Cancer Society
Atlanta, Ga.

Mary H. McGrath, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor of Surgery
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, Calif.

Ralph W. Muller
Chief Executive Officer
University of Pennsylvania Health System
Philadelphia, Pa.

Kurt D. Newman, M.D., F.A.C.S.
Surgeon-in-Chief and Senior Vice President
Children’s National Medical Center and Joseph E. Robert, Jr. Center for Surgical Care
Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics
George Washington University School of Medicine
Washington, D.C.

Rebecca J. Patchin, M.D.
Physician and Surgeon
Riverside, Calif.

Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.H.A., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.M.I.
Chief Medical Officer and President, Clinical Services
HCA/Hospital Corporation of America
Nashville, Tenn.

Christopher J. Queram
President and Chief Executive Officer
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality
Madison, Wis.

Gerald M. Shea
Assistant to the President for External Affairs
American Federation of Labor and Congress of
Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
Washington, D.C.

J.B. Silvers, Ph.D.
Elizabeth and William Treuhaft Professor of Health Systems Management
Professor of Banking and Finance
Weatherhead School of Management
Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
School of Medicine
Case Western Reserve University
Cleveland, Ohio

Ronald G. Spaeth, F.A.C.H.E., M.B.A.
Past President
Evanston Northwestern Healthcare Foundation
Highland Park, Ill.

Margaret T. Stanley, M.H.A.
Retired Former Executive Director
Puget Sound Health Alliance
Normandy Park, Wash.

Josie R. Williams, M.D., M.M.M.
Co-Director, Rural and Community Health Institute
Associate Professor, Internal Medicine and Family Medicine
Texas A&M University System Health Science Center
Bryan, Texas

Michael F. Hogan, Ph.D.
Behavioral Health Care Representative (non-voting)
Commissioner
New York State Office of Mental Health
Albany, New York

Mary K. Ousley
Long Term Care Representative (non-voting)
President
Ousley and Associates, LLC
Richmond, Ky.

Kristy Wright, R.N., M.B.A., F.A.A.N.
Home Care Representative (non-voting)
President and CEO
VNA Services and Foundation, Western Pennsylvania
Butler, Pa.