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Standards
- About Our Standards
- Standards Field Reviews
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National Patient Safety Goals
- National Patient Safety Goals
- Ambulatory Health Care 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Behavioral Health Care 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Critical Access Hospital 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Home Care 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Hospital 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Laboratory Services 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Nursing Care Center 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
- Office-Based Surgery 2020 National Patient Safety Goals
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Prepublication Standards
- Prepublication Standards
- Emergency Management Standard EM.03.01.03 Revisions
- New and Revised Requirements Addressing Embryology, Molecular Testing, and Pathology
- New Standards for Perinatal Safety
- New and Revised Standards for Child Welfare Agencies
- Updates to the Patient Blood Management Certification Program Requirements
- Revisions Related to CMS Requirements
- Revisions Related to Medication Titration Orders
- Updates to the Community-Based Palliative Care Certification Program
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R3 Report
- R3 Report
- R3 Report Issue 27: New and Revised Standards for Child Welfare Agencies
- R3 Report Issue 26: Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Certification Standards
- R3 Report Issue 25: Enhanced Substance Use Disorders Standards for Behavioral Health Organizations
- R3 Report Issue 24: PC Standards for Maternal Safety
- R3 Report Issue 23: Antimicrobial Stewardship in Ambulatory Health Care
- R3 Report Issue 22: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Home Health Services
- R3 Report Issue 21: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Nursing Care Centers
- R3 Report Issue 20: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Behavioral Health Care
- R3 Report Issue 19: National Patient Safety Goal for Anticoagulant Therapy
- R3 Report Issue 18: National Patient Safety Goal for Suicide Prevention
- R3 Report Issue 17: Distinct Newborn Identification Requirement
- R3 Report Issue 16: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Office-Based Surgeries
- R3 Report Issue 15: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Critical Access Hospitals
- R3 Report Issue 14: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Ambulatory Care
- R3 Report Issue 13: Revised Outcome Measures Standard for Behavioral Health Care
- R3 Report Issue 12: Maternal Infectious Disease Status Assessment and Documentation Standards for Hospitals and Critical Access Hospitals
- R3 Report Issue 11: Pain Assessment and Management Standards for Hospitals
- R3 Report Issue 10: Housing Support Services Standards for Behavioral Health Care
- R3 Report Issue 9: New and Revised NPSGs on CAUTIs
- R3 Report Issue 8: New Antimicrobial Stewardship Standard
- R3 Report Issue 7: Eating Disorders Standards for Behavioral Health Care
- R3 Report Issue 6 - Memory care accreditation requirements for nursing care centers
- R3 Report Issue 5: Alarm System Safety
- R3 Report Issue 4: Patient Flow Through the Emergency Department
- R3 Report Issue 3: Influenza Vaccination
- R3 Report Issue 2: CAUTI
- R3 Report Issue 1: Patient-Centered Communication
- Standards FAQs
- Universal Protocol
- Patient Safety Systems PS Chapter
About Our Standards
Joint Commission standards are the basis of an objective evaluation process that can help health care organizations measure, assess and improve performance. The standards focus on important patient, individual, or resident care and organization functions that are essential to providing safe, high quality care. The Joint Commission’s state-of-the-art standards set expectations for organization performance that are reasonable, achievable and surveyable.
Standards Development Process
Joint Commission standards are developed with input from health care professionals, providers, subject matter experts, consumers, and government agencies (including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). They are informed by scientific literature and expert consensus and reviewed by the Board of Commissioners. New standards are added only if they relate to patient safety or quality of care, have a positive impact on health outcomes, meet or surpass law and regulation, and can be accurately and readily measured. The standards development process includes the following steps:
- Emerging quality and safety issues suggesting the need for additional or modified requirements are identified through the scientific literature or discussions with The Joint Commission’s standing committees and advisory groups, accredited organizations, professional associations, consumer groups or others.
- The Joint Commission prepares draft standards using input from technical advisory panels, focus groups, experts and other stakeholders.
- The draft standards are distributed nationally for review and made available for comment on the Standards Field Review page of The Joint Commission website.
- After any necessary revisions, standards are reviewed and approved by executive leadership.
- The survey process is enhanced, as needed, to address the new standards requirements, and pilot testing of the survey process is conducted.
- Surveyors are educated about how to assess compliance with the new standards.
- The approved standards are published for use by the field.
- Once a standard is in effect, ongoing feedback is sought for the purpose of continuous improvement.
Standards Manuals
Standards are available on this website when they are in Field Review or Prepublication status. The standards not in field or prepublication status are available in print and electronic formats and can be purchased from Joint Commission Resources® (JCR®). Each accredited and certified organization receives one complimentary manual delivered via E-dition® (the electronic manual). The E-dition is accessible on the Joint Commission Connect® extranet site.