Joint Commission on Accredidation of Healthcare Organizations Essay Example

hospital has increased from three to seven.

The number of hospitals with conditional accreditation has increased from 1 percent to 2.8 percent, indicating that the new process is alerting hospitals and prompting them to take action to maintain their accreditation [3]. The Joint Commission, while an independent organization, has strong connections to the industry it regulates. Medicare aims to promote a more collaborative approach by encouraging private groups like the Joint Commission and state regulators to work with hospitals and other supervised groups in a collegial manner [4].

Furthermore, the Joint Commission has made improvements to their performance measurement and quality improvement programs. ORYX is an example of these initiatives. Performance data is collected by hospitals using measurement sets that are part of nationally standardized core measurement sets, including AMI, heart failure, pneumonia, and pregnancy. These National Patient Safety Goal measures aim to prevent issues such as patient misidentification, wrong-site surgery, and miscommunication among caregivers [1].

The Joint Commission's quality improvement agenda and focus on performance measures have elicited differing responses. Although some hospital quality administrators are satisfied, others believe that they are impractical for financially struggling hospitals. Ms. Wheatley summarizes this sentiment by stating that the more standards there are, the more resources needed to fulfill them.

The financial sustainability of healthcare is in a precarious state, and although many believe more standards will improve things, they can also deplete resources. Despite these challenges, the Joint Commission has been swift in addressing any issues that arise. It not only has the administrative machinery to evaluate hospitals, but its accreditation is highly sought after as the nation's most widely accepted accreditor. Any modifications to quality or accreditation processes

will likely face minimal resistance [5]. The Joint Commission's responsibilities extend beyond overseeing Medicare and include collecting data on medical errors, enhancing patient safety, and elevating the overall performance of hospitals.

The following references are cited: [1] L. Sprague, “Hospital Oversight in Medicare: Accreditation and Deeming Authority,” NPH Issue Brief, no. 8, pp. 1-15, May 2005. [2] M.

The Eastern Economic Journal published an article titled "Hospital Quality Oversight by the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations" written by L. Moffett and A. Bohara. The article is in volume 1, number 1.The Boston Globe reported in March 2007 that surprise checks at Massachusetts General Hospital discovered faults in the quality of care provided. The report referenced a 2005 study published in Volume 4, pages 629-647. The source can be found at http://www.boston.

Two sources, "Boston Globe" and "Washington Post," have reported on issues with quality of care at MGH. The Boston Globe article from March 2007 describes a surprise check that found faults with the quality of care, while the Washington Post article from July 2005 criticizes accrediting agencies for overlooking problems. Additionally, J. Chen and S. S. are mentioned as potential authors of another article related to this topic.

The following citation is from the journal Health Affairs: Rathore, M. J. Radford, and H. M. Krumholz's study titled "JCAHO Accreditation and Quality of Care for Acute Myocardial Infarction," published in volume 22, number ____.The content of the text enclosed within the HTML paragraph tags pertains to a journal article published in March/April 2003, consisting of 2 pages numbered 243-254.