The Joint Commission’s Disease-Specific Care Certification Program, launched in 2002, is designed to evaluate clinical programs across the continuum of care. Organizations may seek certification for virtually any chronic disease or condition. A list of certified programs includes (but is not limited to):
Acute coronary syndrome
Acute myocardial infarction
Alzheimer’s disease
Asthma
Brain injury rehabilitation
Breast cancer
Cancer
Cardiac rehabilitation
Carotid stenosis
Cervical spine treatment |
Chemical dependency
Depression
Diabetes
End stage renal disease
Heart failure
High-risk neonatal
High-risk obstetrics
Hip fracture
Hyperglycemia
Joint replacement |
Lumbar spine treatment
Lung cancer
Peripheral vascular disease
Pneumonia
Sickle cell disease
Stroke rehabilitation
Trauma
Women’s health
Wound care
|
The Joint Commission has developed an advanced level of certification in seven clinical areas. These programs must meet the requirements for Disease-Specific Care Certification plus additional, clinically-specific requirements and expectations. The Joint Commission offers Advanced Certification for the following conditions and procedures:
- Chronic kidney disease
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Heart failure
- Inpatient diabetes
- Primary stroke center
- Lung volume reduction surgery
- Ventricular assist device for destination therapy
Certification process
Certification requirements address three areas:
- Compliance with consensus-based national standards and safety goals.
- 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 two-year period. At the end of the first year, the organization is required to attest to its continued compliance with standards and provide evidence of performance improvement activities. To maintain certification, the cycle repeats with an on-site review conducted every two years and a bi-annual submission of an acceptable assessment of compliance by the organization.
Performance measurement
Certified programs are required to regularly submit data to The Joint Commission through a secure extranet site. Standardized performance measures are currently available for two advanced certification programs ― Primary Stroke Centers and Heart Failure programs.
Information available to the public
Quality Reports for Joint Commission certified Disease-Specific Care Programs are available on the Quality Check™ Web site, http://www.qualitycheck.org/. In 2009, a new “Certified Organizations” tab has been added to the site. By clicking on it, you can access a list of all certified organizations as either a PDF or an Excel spreadsheet.
The Quality Reports include:
- Certification decision and effective date
- Last full review and last on-site review dates
- Demographic information
- Certified locations of care
- Commentary (optional)
For more information, visit www.jointcommission.org/CertificationPrograms/Disease-SpecificCare, contact the Disease-Specific Care Certification Program at dscinfo@jointcommission.org, or call (630) 792-5291.