The Joint Commission launched its Integrated Survey Process in 1998 to offer new efficiencies in the survey process for small hospitals that offer long term care and/or home care services. In 1999, The Joint Commission expanded the ISP to include non-governmental psychiatric hospitals and smaller hospitals that offer behavioral health care services and hospice services. The Joint Commission began making the ISP available for larger hospitals in 2004.
Benefits of the ISP
The ISP reduces duplication at hospitals and their service components by offering a single survey with a single team of Joint Commission surveyors. The ISP replaces that portion of the tailored survey process that required additional surveyors for each additional component. An organization’s size and complexity determines its eligibility for the ISP.
When appropriate, the ISP allows The Joint Commission to evaluate only once for the entire organization performance in common areas across a hospital’s components. For example, rather than conducting separate leadership interviews for the hospital, behavioral health care program, long term care unit, home care services and/or hospice services, only one leadership interview that encompasses discussion of all programs is conducted under the ISP.
The ISP decreases
- the number of surveyors present for an onsite survey;
- the number of redundant meetings that staff must attend per program;
- the time organization staff must meet with surveyors;
- the length of the survey.
While more efficient, the ISP continues to assess the organization’s compliance with the same full set of standards for the hospital, behavioral health care, home care, hospice care and/or long term care services.
In addition, the ISP more accurately gauges the integration of services across the entire organization and identifies opportunities for the organization to improve its own efficiency. This is clearly reflected in the tracer methodology review process which follows a patient’s care within and across settings and services.
ISP survey and survey results
The length of survey and survey team complement is based on both the overall size and complexity of the organization, and the number of different components and their sizes. For example, a very small hospital with one small component may be surveyed by two surveyors for three days. A larger hospital with multiple components may be surveyed by three to four surveyors for four to five days.
Under the ISP for hospitals, upon completion of the survey, each service component receives preliminary survey reports. The final report is integrated, providing a single accreditation decision and one report of requirements for improvement.
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