This affiliation will bolster The Joint Commission’s evolving national and international processes in evidence-based, data-driven, and outcomes-oriented accreditation and certification — accelerating improvements across the continuum-of-care while reducing the burden of measurement on healthcare organizations and workers.
NQF will join the Joint Commission enterprise, while maintaining its independence in convening and developing consensus-based measurement standards, implementation guidance, and practices that benefit all stakeholders. This will allow both The Joint Commission and NQF to build upon their shared expertise in measuring quality and rationalizing the measurement landscape, so the focus shifts from competing measures to advancing key outcomes.
“We believe that by combining the unique capabilities of each organization, we can better support focused improvement in healthcare,” said Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., M.S.H.A., M.A.C.P., F.A.C.M.I, President and CEO of The Joint Commission. “Our goals are shared across the patient, consumer, payer, purchaser, and provider communities: Safer, higher value, more equitable, and more compassionate healthcare.”
Learn more about this exciting announcement.
To help healthcare organizations address this growing patient safety concern, The Joint Commission has issued a new Sentinel Event Alert that focuses on risks associated with cyberattacks and provides recommendations on how healthcare organizations can prepare to deliver safe patient care in the event of a cyberattack.
Read Sentinel Event Alert.
The free resource – based on a real event that occurred to a relative of a Joint Commission employee –describe how the nurse practitioner identified a potential contributing factor to the symptoms that brought a patient to the emergency department and listed several safety strategies.
View the latest Case Example.
There is still time to earn Continuing Education (CE) credit by completing the Accelerate PI on-demand webinar on using data to identify disparities across patient groups. The deadline is Aug. 31.
The free webinar — which was originally broadcast on June 22 — provided participants with the opportunity to learn about stratification of key patient safety and quality measures to examine health care disparities. The tools, resources, and examples are intended to assist organizations on the journey to health care equity, regardless of where they are on the path. Please note: Participants that earned credit for the live broadcast are not eligible for credit for this on-demand version.
During the webinar, Mat Reidhead, Vice President of Research and Analytics at Missouri Hospital Association, spotlighted a health equity dashboard designed to inform highly targeted quality improvement interventions by hospitals aimed at identifying and eliminating health disparities. Deborah Sisco, Manager of Patient Advocacy/Engagement at University Health, also discussed how her organization uses data to identify disparities across patient groups.
The recording includes a Q&A segment and information on how those who take the webinar on-demand can submit questions.
This webinar is approved for 1.0 Continuing Education Credit. To claim credit, you must:
- Individually register for the webinar.
- Listen to the live webinar in its entirety and complete a post-program evaluation/attestation.
An updated version of IC Made Easy: Your Key to Understanding Infection Prevention and Control, Second Edition, is now available from Joint Commission Resources.
This new edition offers practical guidance for infection preventionists, clinicians, accreditation professionals, and health care professionals who need to understand the basics of compliance with The Joint Commission’s requirements for infection prevention and control (IC). It also aids with daily IC challenges that exist in all care settings, especially in light of the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This book makes IC easy to understand — for beginners new to accreditation and those seeking a refresher or reference on IC concepts — and has downloadable tools and resources.
The book features information on key topics such as:
- Preventing transmission of infection to patients, staff, and visitors
- Managing an influx of infectious patients, particularly focusing on lessons learned from the pandemic.
- Evaluating and improving an organization’s IC plan