IC chapter revised for behavioral health care and human services organizations, office-based surgery practices
Effective July 1, 2025, a fully revised Infection Prevention and Control (IC) chapter, including new and revised requirements will apply to all Joint Commission-accredited behavioral health care and human services organizations and office-based surgery practices. Effective IC practices are needed to ensure patient safety in these settings, where infection risks may arise from invasive procedures, preexisting infections, close physical proximity in residential and group settings, and other situations.
The goal of the IC chapter rewrite is to help organizations solidify a strong framework for their IC activities and remove requirements that do not add value to accreditation surveys. The changes are consistent with The Joint Commission’s ongoing initiative to simplify its requirements and provide more meaningful evaluations of healthcare organizations. The IC chapter rewrite continues the project that includes new and revised requirements that replaced current IC requirements.
The Joint Commission also created a new IC Assessment Tool that details the IC practices, structures, and documentation needed to meet the IC requirements. The tool includes components that may be evaluated during survey and standard/element of performance (EP) locations for scoring. The tool was developed using the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Core IC Practices and relevant regulations. The new tool is available on Joint Commission-accredited organizations’ Joint Commission Connect® extranet; it also will be added to the Behavioral Health Care and Human Services and Office-Based Surgery Survey Activity Guides in spring 2025.
For more information, please contact The Joint Commission’s Global Accreditation and Certification Product Development.
See the revised IC chapter Prepublication Standards (includes a program-specific guide showing where concepts from the old EPs have moved in the new EPs, as well as applicability information for behavioral health care and human services organizations)