2025 survey process enhancements
Based on feedback from our organizations, The Joint Commission is introducing several enhancements to our survey processes in 2025. These answer the call to modernize our tools, alleviate burden, and provide better communications tools for use across stakeholders within our organizations.
The enhancements, with program applicability, include:
- A more user-friendly, redesigned survey report optimized to share insights in a clear and prioritized way, including an executive summary, to help organizations better understand and address their survey findings. Applicable to all accredited, certified and verified healthcare organizations.
- An improved SAFER® Matrix will use short descriptors to supplement standard and element of performance (EP) numbers. This use of short names will make it easier for healthcare leaders to understand areas of strength and opportunity. Applicable to all accredited organizations.
- The new SAFER Peer Benchmarking tool shows how hospitals perform compared to peers. Hospitals can determine if their performance is better, the same or worse than other similar organizations based on size, services delivered, or other demographics. Applicable to accredited hospitals.
- An optional new process will allow organizations to upload survey-related documents during any survey type via their Joint Commission Connect®; extranet site. The easy access will make it more efficient for sharing documents during a survey. Applicable to hospital, critical access hospital, and hospital tailored accreditation programs.
- The for-cause survey process has been modified to help organizations better understand the process. The general reason for the survey will be communicated, survey plan discussed, and at the close surveyors will provide a verbal overview of observations. Applicable to all accredited, certified and verified healthcare organizations.
The Joint Commission will continue to work with our accredited and certified organizations to find high priority areas of opportunity to improve both the experience and the learnings from surveys and reviews to enable and affirm the highest standards of healthcare quality and patient safety for all.