Get Ready for New Joint Commission Suicide Prevention Standards
The added emphasis on suicide comes at a time of national concern about suicides in hospitals and is meant to complement the “Zero Suicide” campaign, an effort by several outreach groups to eliminate suicide in healthcare facilities nationwide, according to Joint Commission literature.
Once Again, Safety Issues Top List of Most-Cited TJC Standards
Released in the April issue of Perspectives, the list covers the top Joint Commission requirements that surveyors found to be noncompliant most often during 2018.
Postmortem: Was the Failed Massachusetts Law Requiring Patient Limits for Nurses a Good Idea?
The proposed law, which became known as “Question 1” because of its position on the referendum ballot, was soundly defeated in the November 2018 election, with about 70% of Massachusetts poll-goers voting “no.” An industry-backed campaign from hospital executives spent around $27 million exhorting voters to turn down the measure.
TJC, Others Respond to CMS Concerns About AO Consulting, Conflicts of Interest
CMS published a request for information in mid-December, asking the public to weigh in on whether accrediting organizations that also offer consulting services have, or at least create, a public perception of conflict of interest.
Joint Commission Updates Anticoagulant NPSG
All the changes are listed in R3 Report 19 and will take effect July 1, 2019. The update applies to all TJC-accredited hospitals, critical access hospitals, nursing care centers, and medical centers accredited under the ambulatory healthcare program.
CMS Looks Into Whether AOs Have Conflicts of Interest
On December 18, the federal agency pre-published a request for information on “Medicare Program: Accrediting Organizations Conflict of Interest and Consulting Services.”
TJC Releases Compliance and Sentinel Event Stats for First Half of 2018
The latest list, published in the September issue of Perspectives, shows the standards scored most frequently as “not compliant” during Joint Commission accreditation surveys and certification reviews from January 1 through June 30, 2018.
Final Hazardous Waste Pharmaceutical Rule Issued by EPA
Three years after it was proposed, the final rule, now entitled “Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals and Amendment to the P0875 Listing for Nicotine” will likely be published in the Federal Register by the end of this month and go into effect six months after its publication in the Register.
Biased Against Accredited Hospitals? Joint Commission Refutes Study
The Joint Commission contends that the study drew invalid conclusions by trying to compare “two radically different groups of hospitals” resulting in a bias against accredited hospitals.
Patient Outcomes No Better For Joint Commission–Accredited Hospitals Than Peers
Researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health compared 4,400 hospitals across the United States, of which 3,337 were accredited, including 2,847 by The Joint Commission, and 1,063 hospitals that underwent state-based reviews between 2014 and 2017.