THE ROLE OF THE JOINT COMMISSION ON ACCREDITATION

The Role of the Joint Commission on Accreditation on Healthcare Organizations in Long Term Care Quality Assurance

The Role of the Joint Commission on Accreditation on Healthcare Organizations in Long Term Care Quality Assurance

Accreditation is a voluntary process through which healthcare institutions and programs are held accountable for meeting quality requirements or standards. Accreditation involves a rigorous evaluation carried out by an external independent accrediting organization. When healthcare institutions and programs gain accreditation, such accreditation can be viewed as an endorsement resulting from having met the identified requirements. While accreditation is voluntary, it may be required or accepted in lieu of other requirements to be deemed eligible for participation in government healthcare plans and funding. For example, the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) requires that companies participating in Medicare Part D prescription drug coverage have approved accreditation. (Viswanathan, 2000)

Quality Assurance and Patient Safety

With the development of the minimum standards by the ACS, for the first time hospitals were evaluated for the quality of care they provided. When the Joint Commission took over hospital accreditation, it continued to develop standards that reviewed and evaluated hospital quality. For the most part, however, these evaluations were informal and often subjective. During this time, research into more objective and valid criteria and systematic review procedures for measuring quality were being developed. This later formed the foundation for the Joint Commission's retrospective, outcome-oriented auditing practices that commenced in the 1970s. (International Society for Quality in Health Care, 2003)

While the Joint Commission focused on these quality assurance efforts, hospital audits became more of a routine exercise to meet the Joint Commission's standard requirements rather than focusing on quality care, and therefore this failed to meet its intended objective.

To address these concerns, evidence and ...