Applicable to Primary Care Medical Home Certification program
Effective immediately, The Joint Commission will use the term “certification” in place of the term “designation” regarding its Primary Care Medical Home option (which is an optional add-on to the Ambulatory Care Accreditation program). As of January 2012, The Joint Commission applies the term “certification” to programs providing specific clinical services and service offerings, treating specific clinical diseases, and primary care medical homes. Expanding the definition of “certification” to include the Primary Care Medical Home option will not affect the accreditation decision of any organizations that have already received it as a designation. Joint Commission certification programs include the Disease-Specific Care Certification program, the Advanced Disease-Specific Care Certification program, the Health Care Staffing Services Certification program, and now the Primary Care Medical Home Certification program. Certification standards help organizations maintain a consistently high level of quality, using effective data-driven performance improvement. Joint Commission-accredited ambulatory care organizations have had the option of expanding their accreditation to include the Primary Care Medical Home designation since July 1, 2011. Organizations interested in obtaining the certification must comply with existing Joint Commission ambulatory care requirements as well as additional primary care medical home-specific requirements. In addition, as of January 2012, an organization’s Primary Care Medical Home Certification status will be displayed on Quality Check®. (Contact: Michael Kulczycki, mkulczycki@jointcommission.org)