The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification Program, launched in 2002, is designed to evaluate disease management and chronic care services that are provided by direct care providers such as hospitals and home care vendors, as well as health plans and disease management service companies. Organizations may seek certification for clinical programs for virtually any chronic disease or condition. A list of certified programs includes (but is not limited to):
- Acute coronary syndrome
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Arthritis
- Asthma
- Cancer
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Coronary artery disease
- Depression
- Emphysema
- Epilepsy
- Heart failure
- Hemophilia
- High-risk pregnancy
- HIV/AIDS
- Hypertension
- Ischemic heart disease
- Low back pain
- Migraines
- Multiple sclerosis
- Obesity/bariatric surgery Osteoporosis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Sickle cell disease
- Wound care
Advanced Certification
The Joint Commission has developed an advanced level of certification, which has additional clinically-specific requirements and expectations, in the following clinical areas:
- Chronic kidney disease
- Inpatient diabetes
- Primary stroke centers
- Lung volume reduction surgery
- Ventricular assist device
Certification process
The evaluation and resulting certification decision is based on an assessment of:
- Compliance with consensus-based national standards.
- Effective use of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care.
- An organized approach to performance measurement and improvement activities.
Disease-specific programs that successfully demonstrate compliance in all three areas are awarded certification for a one-year period. After this first year, an additional one-year extension can be granted contingent on the submission of an acceptable assessment by the organization of continued compliance with standards and evidence of performance measurement and improvement activities. To maintain certification, the cycle repeats with an unannounced, on-site review conducted every two years and a bi-annual submission of an acceptable assessment of compliance by the organization.
Performance measurement
Once certified, each program regularly submits data reports and summaries of its performance measurement activities to the Joint Commission.
- Primary stroke centers: In 2007, collect and submit data on the first four measures from the Stroke Performance Measurement Implementation Guide. In 2008, collect and report on all 10 measures:
- Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) prophylaxis
- Discharged on antithrombotics
- Patients with atrial fibrillation receiving anticoagulation therapy
- Thrombolytic therapy administered
- Antithrombotic therapy by end of hospital day two
- Discharged on cholesterol reducing medication
- Dysphagia screening
- Stroke education
- Smoking cessation/advice/counseling
- Assessed for rehabilitation
- Other certified programs: Standardized measures are not yet available, so these programs must collect and analyze data on at least four performance measures that they select. Two of the measures must be clinical process or outcomes measures. The other two measures may be clinical or related to health status, functional status, administrative or financial areas, or Participant Perception of Care.
Public information
The Joint Commission publishes a list of the certified DSC programs. Beginning in 2008, certified programs will be highlighted in Quality Reports for organizations that have also achieved Joint Commission accreditation.
For more information, contact the Disease-Specific Care Certification Program at dscinfo@jointcommission.org, or call (630) 792-5291.
10/07