The Joint Commission and National Quality Forum (NQF) announced the recipients of the 2022 John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety and Quality Awards (to be presented in 2023). The Eisenberg Awards recognize major achievements by individuals and organizations to improve patient safety and healthcare quality.
Each year, awards are presented for individual achievement, national-level innovation, and local-level innovation. They are:
- Individual Achievement: Jason S. Adelman, MD, MS, chief patient safety officer and associate chief quality officer; executive director, Center for Patient Safety Research; director, Patient Safety Research Fellowship, Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian; associate professor of medicine (in biomedical informatics) and vice chair for quality and patient safety, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons
- National Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality: Anesthesia Risk Alerts Program – North American Partners in Anesthesia (NAPA)
- Local Level Innovation in Patient Safety and Quality: Improving Maternal Safety and Quality Through Extending Maternal Care After Pregnancy in Dallas County – Parkland Health
Launched in 2002, the awards honor the late John M. Eisenberg, MD, MBA, former administrator of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). An impassioned advocate for healthcare quality improvement, Dr. Eisenberg was a founding member of NQF’s board of directors.
Learn more about the incredible achievements of this year’s awardees including key takeaways and improvement strategies employed on the Eisenberg Awards webpage.
Effective July 1, The Joint Commission will implement two new Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services (PC) requirements that prohibit restraint and seclusion in assisted living communities. Additionally, the terms restraint and seclusion will be modified in the Glossary (GL) and the term physical restraint will be removed.
The new elements of performance reflect feedback received while developing requirements for the new Assisted Living Community Memory Care Certification option — but the new requirements prohibiting restraints and seclusion will apply to all Joint Commission-accredited assisted living communities, not just those pursuing the optional certification.
The new requirements were developed with input from:
- Alzheimer’s Association, along with other industry experts and care providers
- A Standards Review Panel
- A six-week public field review
View the prepublication standards.
Beginning July 1, new and revised Emergency Management (EM) chapter requirements will go into effect for accredited home care organizations.
The Joint Commission began conducting a critical analysis of its EM chapter in late 2019. Based on the work already being performed on the EM chapter and the questions and issues that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic, the entire EM chapter has been restructured to provide a meaningful framework for a successful emergency management program. The changes in the EM chapter include a new numbering system, elimination of redundant requirements, and the addition of new requirements. It also resulted in a reduction of more than 30% of the elements of performance (EPs).
As a result of the revisions, the following standards have been deleted for deemed home health agencies and hospices:
- Information Management (IM) standard IM.01.01.03, EP 5
- Provision of Care, Treatment, and Services (PC) standard PC.01.03.01, EP 55
The new and revised EM requirements provide more clarity and greater emphasis on:
- Assessment, applicability, and incorporation of the hazard vulnerability analysis throughout the entire EM chapter.
- Specific requirements for leadership involvement and oversight in all aspects of the EM program.
- An emergency operations plan that addresses communication plans, surge plans, evacuation procedures, resource acquisition and management, and continuity of operations.
- Staff education and training with specific guidance for initial and ongoing EM training.
An R3 Report detailing the rationale and research behind the changes is available.
View the prepublication standards.
Effective July 1, The Joint Commission will launch a Memory Care Certification (MCC) option for Joint Commission-accredited assisted living communities. The purpose of the specialty certification is to ensure that assisted living communities serving residents who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia are meeting standards that support the delivery of high-quality care in a safe environment.
The new certification requirements:
- Reflect current scientific evidence and best practices in memory care.
- Align with recommendations and practice guidelines from the Alzheimer’s Association.
- Build on existing requirements for the Assisted Living Community (ALC) Accreditation program.
The Alzheimer’s Association — the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s care — collaborated with The Joint Commission to develop the standards to ensure that Joint Commission standards align with their dementia care practice recommendations. Assisted living communities achieving MCC on or after July 1, will be able to display a certification logo associated with both The Joint Commission and the Alzheimer’s Association.
For more information about the new certification option, contact the Department of Standards and Survey Methods. For more information on the collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association, contact Mark Crafton, MPA, MT(ASCP), Executive Director, Strategic Alliances, at mcrafton@jointcommission.org.
View the prepublication standards.
Joint Commission International (JCI) has launched a telehealth certification program, an additional recognition for JCI-accredited organizations that provide telehealth services following a thorough evaluation of its policies, procedures and implementation of telehealth technologies to deliver patient care.
JCI is a division of Joint Commission Resources, Inc., a wholly controlled not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission. JCI provides leadership in international health care accreditation and quality improvement.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telehealth services increased substantially in many countries and remains a key modality of care. While telehealth has the potential to improve patients’ access to care and help them maintain regular contact with their providers, it requires standardization to ensure safe and quality care.
To achieve JCI Telehealth Certification, organizations must demonstrate a culture of continuous improvement through standardized practices and processes while ensuring better coordination, communication and alignment when patient care is being provided via telehealth. The certification program has its own standards and requirements that focus on patient-centered care and organization management.
“Joint Commission International is pleased to offer the new JCI Telehealth Certification program to all JCI-accredited healthcare organizations — enabling them to continue to excel and ensure patient safety when care is rendered via telehealth,” said Joel Roos, MD, MBA, MHCDS, CPE, Vice President of International Accreditation, Quality Improvement and Safety, JCI. “As patients continue to use telehealth services, it is important that safe and quality care is delivered virtually through the implementation of the certification program’s evidence-based standards that are unique to telehealth services.”
Eligibility for JCI Telehealth Certification requires healthcare organizations to be located outside of the United States and its territories. Organizations seeking this certification must already be accredited by JCI or be accredited at the same time of the JCI Telehealth Certification survey. Additionally, organizations must do one of the following:
- Provide asynchronous (non-real-time interactions) and synchronous (real-time interactions) care.
- Conduct remote patient monitoring consisting of transmitting and storing patient data and clinical measurements from in-home or in-unit devices to patient portals or electronic health records.
- Offer mobile health (mHealth), an evolving area in which digital applications on smartphones can support patients between provider visits.
- Store detailed instructions or education materials, if licensed to provide care and treatment as a telehealth organization.
The first National Health Equity Grand Rounds event — “History of Racism in U.S. Health Care: Root Causes of Today’s Hierarchy and Systems of Power” — is scheduled for Tuesday, Feb. 7, from 2-3:30 p.m. ET.
Participants will learn about the root causes of current structural inequities and past unethical medical experimentation. The event also will explore how healthcare professionals can work together to understand and redress past harms to create a more equitable healthcare system and society.
Featured speakers include:
- Ms. Harriet A. Washington, MA, award-winning medical writer, ethicist, and author of “Medical Apartheid” and other books
- Dr. Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH, American Medical Association
- Dr. William A. McDade, MD, PhD, Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education
- Dr. Rupa Marya, Deep Medicine Circle and Do No Harm Coalition
- Dr. Jack Resneck, MD, American Medical Association and UCSF Department of Dermatology
- Dr. David A. Ansell, Rush University Medical Center