Joint Commission announces new Telehealth Accreditation Program

The Joint Commission announces its new Telehealth Accreditation Program (TEL) for eligible hospitals, ambulatory and behavioral healthcare organizations effective July 1, 2024. The new program was developed for healthcare organizations that provide care, treatment, or services only via telehealth. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations that have written agreements in place to provide care, treatment, or services via telehealth to another organization’s patients have the option to apply for the new accreditation.

During the beginning years of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the use of telehealth increased 154% and then stabilized and remained at levels 38 times higher than 2019. As telehealth continues to move into additional settings and evolve, it affords more people to have access to healthcare services. The Joint Commission currently accredits the largest number of organizations that provide care, treatment, or services via a telehealth platform, and is the largest accrediting body in the U.S.

In keeping pace with the continuing growth of virtual care, The Joint Commission is providing its new Telehealth Accreditation Program, which provides updated, streamlined standards that support a more meaningful survey process reflective of contemporary telehealth modalities.

The Telehealth program requirements contain many of the standards similar to other Joint Commission accreditation programs, such as requirements for information management, leadership, medication management, patient identification, documentation, and credentialing and privileging. Some of the requirements specific to the new Telehealth program are:

• Streamlined emergency management requirements to address providing care and clinical support remotely rather than in a physical building.
• New standards for telehealth provider education and patient education about the use of telehealth platforms and devices.
• New standards chapter focused on equipment, devices, and connectivity.

The new Telehealth Accreditation Program will replace the current telehealth and technology-based accreditation products in the Joint Commission Ambulatory Health Care and Behavioral Health Care and Human Services accreditation programs for organizations that meet the new eligibility criteria.

For more information about the new Telehealth Accreditation Program, certified organizations can contact their account executive; new accredited organizations can start by contacting .