New and Revised Requirements for Disease-Specific Care Certification Programs

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, The Joint Commission has approved new and revised standards and elements of performance (EPs) for most Disease-Specific Care (DSC) Certification Programs. The DSC certification standards and EPs were significantly revised, including eliminating or revising requirements that do not add value to the certification and review process. These requirements were evaluated for the following:

• How often the requirement was scored.
• Whether the requirement was clear.
• Whether the requirement was redundant to another.
• Whether the requirement supported patient safety and quality of care.

As illustrated below, many requirements were revised or completely removed from each of the five chapters. In addition, new concepts were added to the certification requirements, such as providing community outreach/education based on services provided and incorporating patient perception of care to inform program improvement initiatives. EPs rarely or never scored were eliminated if they did not add value to the certification process. As a result, the DSC Certification Program requirements were reduced by 57%.

Chapters with the numbers of current, deleted and new/revised EPs

• Program Management (DSPR) – 38 current EPs; 17 deleted EPs; 21 new/revised EPs
• Delivering or Facilitating Clinical Care (DSDF) – 31 current EPs; 19 deleted EPs; 12 new/revised EPs
• Supporting Self-Management (DSSE) – 16 current EPs; 7 deleted EPs; 9 new/revised EPs
• Clinical Information Management (DSCT) – 22 current EPs; 17 deleted EPs; 5 new/revised EPs
• Performance Measurement (DSPM) – 31 current EPs; 18 deleted EPs; 13 new/revised EPs

Totals = 138 current EPs; 78 deleted EPs; 60 new/revised EPs

Aligning addenda for select Advanced DSC Certification Programs

The addenda specific to most advanced DSC Certification Programs will move under new EPs; however, addenda content will not change. In the future, these addenda will be revised to cohesively align with the new and revised EPs. These revised requirements do not affect the intent of the Advanced DSC Certification Programs or their program-specific requirements.

The advanced certifications for Lung Volume Reduction Surgery (LVRS) and Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) are not part of these revisions. The standards and EPs for these programs remain unchanged.

Healthcare organizations can access:

• A high-level overview of the new and revised requirements will be posted on the Prepublication Standards page of The Joint Commission’s website.
• A comprehensive copy of the new and revised requirements for basic and/or advanced DSC programs is available on an organization’s Joint Commission Connect® extranet site under the “Important Updates” section.

The new and revised requirements will publish online in the fall 2024 E-dition^® update to the Comprehensive Certification Manual for Disease-Specific Care (DSC). For those who purchase them, the PDF version of the 2025 DSC manual, and the hard-copy and PDF versions of the 2025 Orthopedic Certification Standards Manual and 2025 Stroke Certification Standards Manual will include these new and revised requirements.

For more information, please contact your account executive.