Facts about The Joint Commission’s public policy initiatives

To identify achievable solutions to critical issues affecting the quality and safety of health care, The Joint Commission launched a series of public policy initiatives. The Joint Commission brings together health care experts to discuss issues that are of greatest concern to health care leaders and workers to identify workable solutions, and assign specific accountabilities for action. The Joint Commission’s public policy initiatives are:

• Development of a National Performance Data Management Strategy – NEW!
• Emergency Department Overcrowding
• Emergency Preparedness
• Health Care Professional Education
• Health Information Technology– NEW!
• Health Literacy and Patient Safety
• Hospital of the Future
• Nurse Staffing Crisis
• Organ Donation
• Tort Resolution and Injury Prevention
• Waste Reduction and Efficiency – NEW!

The Joint Commission’s public policy action plan, identified as a strategic priority by its Board of Commissioners, focuses on key areas related to patient safety and health care quality.  In approaching these issues, The Joint Commission:

• Convenes roundtables with experts and stakeholders who are knowledgeable about and affected by the issue. The role of the roundtables is to synthesize the problem and frame potential solutions and accountabilities.
• Develops and widely distributes white papers that include the prominent elements of the roundtable discussion. 
• Holds national symposia that permit in-depth exploration of important aspects of the problem and the solutions.
• Conducts other activities to maintain the visibility of the issue and facilitate pursuit of its resolution.

The following white papers are available on The Joint Commission website at www.jointcommission.org:

• “Health Care at the Crossroads: Development of a National Performance Data Strategy,” published in March 2008
• “’What Did the Doctor Say?”: Improving Health Literacy to Protect Patient Safety, published in February 2007
• "Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Improving the Medical Liability System and Preventing Patient Injury," published in February 2005
• “Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Narrowing the Organ Donation Gap and Protecting Patients,” published in June 2004
• “Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Creating and Sustaining Community-wide Emergency Preparedness Systems,” published in March 2003
• “Health Care at the Crossroads: Strategies for Addressing the Evolving Nursing Crisis,” published in August 2002

Additional resources on The Joint Commission website:

• “Standing Together: An Emergency Planning Guide for America's Communities”
• “Surge Hospitals: Providing Safe Care in Emergencies”

For more information about the public policy initiatives, visit www.jointcommission.org, or contact Terri Tye, director of Public Affairs, at ttye@jointcommission.org.

3/08