The Joint Commission

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 05/15/13 -- Joint Commission-accredited behavioral health care organizations that are establishing behavior health homes as part of nationwide efforts to expand and improve health services will soon have a certification option. Beginning in January 2014, The Joint Commission will begin offering a new Behavioral ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwired) -- 04/08/13 -- The constant beeping of alarms and an overabundance of information transmitted by medical devices such as ventilators, blood pressure monitors and ECG (electrocardiogram) machines is creating "alarm fatigue" that puts hospital patients at serious risk, according to a Sentinel Event Alert ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 02/27/13 -- Today, The Joint Commission announced the release of "Speak Up: About Your Pain," an engaging animated video that illustrates the reasons why it is important for patients to speak up about their pain and provides easy-to-understand examples for the general public. ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 02/20/13 -- The Joint Commission today announced it is now offering a new Primary Care Medical Home (PCMH) certification option for accredited hospitals and critical access hospitals. Surveys for this add-on certification option can be conducted in coordination with the regular on-site accreditation ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 01/07/13 -- The Joint Commission today announced its new Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Accreditation program, and for the first time is offering a Rehabilitation and Advanced Care Certification option. The Nursing and Rehabilitation Center Accreditation program, which replaces the Long Term Care Accreditation ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 12/05/12 -- Today Mercy Rehabilitation Hospital, a hospital dedicated to the treatment of patients with stroke, brain injury and other debilitating conditions in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was announced as the 20,000th organization to have currently achieved accreditation or certification from The Joint Commission. ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/20/12 -- The Joint Commission today released a free monograph, "Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and Innovation," to draw attention to the need to create a culture that focuses on both the safety of patients and the health care ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/16/12 -- The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association together announced that The Stanford Stroke Center at Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto, California, is the first hospital in the country to meet The Joint Commission's standards for Disease-Specific ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 09/28/12 -- To help reach a consensus on ways to reduce the occurrence of medical treatments that are commonly used but not always necessary, the American Medical Association (AMA)-convened Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement (PCPI) and The Joint Commission co-sponsored the National Summit ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 08/30/12 -- The Joint Commission today announced the appointment of Ronald M. Wyatt, M.D., MHA, as the medical director in the Division of Healthcare Improvement. In this role, Dr. Wyatt will promote quality improvement and patient safety to internal and external stakeholders, work to ... read more

OAK BROOK, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 08/29/12 -- Ambulatory health care leaders will gather this November 8-9, 2012, for the 17th Annual Joint Commission and Joint Commission Resources (JCR) Ambulatory Care Conference to discover new ways of demonstrating quality of care to payers, regulatory agencies, and managed care organizations. ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 08/08/12 -- Although hospital patients may need the strong pain relief that only opioids can provide, a Sentinel Event Alert issued today by The Joint Commission urges hospitals to take specific steps to prevent serious complications or even deaths from opioid use. Opioid analgesics ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 02/29/12 -- Encouraging patients and their families to take an active role in their health care by becoming involved and informed is critical. In celebration of Patient Safety Awareness Week, March 4-10, a unique patient safety education program will be released to ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 02/14/12 -- A new weapon in the critical fight to reduce the incidence of wrong site surgery becomes available today. The Targeted Solutions Tool™ (TST), developed by the Joint Commission Center for Transforming Healthcare, guides health care organizations through a step-by-step process ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 02/01/12 -- Knowing the early signs and risk factors for stroke and understanding that a stroke is a "brain attack" requiring immediate action can significantly improve a patient's recovery and prevent future strokes, according to The Joint Commission's new Speak Up™: "What ... read more

OAK BROOK, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 12/15/11 -- Joint Commission Resources (JCR) is one of 26 leading health care organizations that will work with hospitals to make health care safer and less costly by targeting and reducing the millions of preventable injuries and complications from health care-associated conditions. As ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 12/14/11 -- The link between health care worker fatigue and adverse events is well documented, prompting The Joint Commission to issue a new Sentinel Event Alert: Health care worker fatigue and patient safety. The Alert urges greater attention to preventing fatigue among ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/08/11 -- A new field guide from The Joint Commission urges U.S. hospitals to create a more welcoming, safe and inclusive environment that contributes to improved health care quality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) patients and their families. The guide, ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/02/11 -- The Joint Commission and SGS Group are joining forces to offer hospitals and critical access hospitals in the United States the option of pursuing both accreditation and certification to various ISO and industry best practice standards beginning in early 2012. This ... read more

OAKBROOK TERRACE, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 10/19/11 -- The Department of Health and Human Services' Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has again granted The Joint Commission deeming authority for the accreditation of critical access hospitals. The CMS designation means that critical access hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission ... read more