The Joint Commission is adding a safety briefing to all accreditation surveys — including for the Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Accreditation Program — effective Jan. 1, 2023.
The informal briefing — which is not expected to take more than 5 minutes — allows organizations to tell surveyors about any potential contemporary safety concerns and how the surveyors should respond if the organizations’ safety plans are implemented while surveyors are onsite. Organizations should identify staff who will provide the briefing prior to the surveyor arriving.
The briefing will be incorporated into the arrival and greeting activities held on Day 1 of surveys. Topics that an organization should be prepared to discuss during the briefing include:
- Fire, smoke, or other emergencies.
- Workplace violence, including active shooter scenarios.
- Any specific issues the organization is aware of that surveyors may encounter during their time onsite.
(Contact: James Kendig, jkendig@jointcommission.org)
Several revisions have been made to requirements in the Environment of Care (EC) and Life Safety (LS) chapters for The Joint Commission’s Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Accreditation Program. The changes include revised elements of performance (EPs) that clarify and/or strengthen expectations for accredited organizations as they relate to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) codes. The changes will take effect Jan. 1, 2023.
View the prepublication standards.
Effective immediately, The Joint Commission revised its requirements regarding the timeframe to evaluate a licensed practitioner’s ability to provide care, treatment, and services from two years to three years, unless law and regulation require a shorter period. This change was made to better align with the standard practice of evaluating licensed practitioners every three years. These revisions apply to the Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Accreditation Program.
View the prepublication standards or see the December 2022 issue of Perspectives for more information. Questions may be directed to the Department of Standards and Survey Methods.
A new set of FAQs have been posted to The Joint Commission’s website, addressing COVID-19 guidance for wearing masks in behavioral healthcare and human services settings.
Find out the answer to, “What are The Joint Commission's expectations for implementing the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance regarding the routine use of masks (also known as source control) to ensure compliance?”
Read the FAQ.
The Joint Commission has joined the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health’s Sync for Social Needs coalition, committing to a role in ending hunger and reducing diet-related disease in the United States by 2030.
The Sync for Social Needs coalition brings together leading healthcare organizations and healthcare technology companies that aim to integrate nutrition information within a patient’s electronic health record via a standardized, Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR)-based approach.
As the standards-setting organization for more than 22,000 U.S. healthcare organizations, The Joint Commission is committed to working with participants to scale implementation to lower clinician burden to screen for social needs.
The Joint Commission recognizes that the social determinants of health (SDOH), the conditions in the environments where people live, learn, work, and play, can limit an individual’s access to nutritious foods. Americans who lack access to nutritious food are disproportionately low-income, Black or Hispanic, or live in rural areas. Standardizing SDOH data collection and sharing is a crucial step in understanding and addressing the nature and extent of the problem at hand.
“Health equity is among The Joint Commission’s highest priorities,” said Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, MACP, FACMI, president and chief executive officer, The Joint Commission. “By standardizing the collection and sharing of social determinants of health data, clinicians can be better prepared to tailor a patient’s care to their environment, access, and abilities. The Joint Commission looks forward to collaborating with some of the United States’ leading healthcare organizations to address the social determinants of health that contribute to food insecurity.”
Other member organizations of the Sync for Social Needs coalition include the Department of Veterans Affairs, National Quality Forum, National Committee for Quality Assurance, HL7 International, Epic, Oracle-Cerner, Rush University System for Health, Tufts Medicine, Riverside Health System, SCAN Health Plan, Sanford Health, SSM Health, Higi, BayCare, Geisinger, Meditech, FindHelp, Wellsky, UniteUs, Graphite Health, Saffron Labs, and XanthosHealth.
Learn more about the Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health and the Sync for Social Needs coalition. Also, furthering its commitment to health equity, The Joint Commission recently released new and revised requirements to reduce healthcare disparities that will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2023.
An on-demand version of the Behavioral Health Care and Human Services Conference, which took place in September, is now available for purchase. The annual event touched on the hottest behavioral healthcare topics and upcoming changes at The Joint Commission. Access to the recording and materials will be available until May 12, 2023.