Health Information Management

New Joint Commission survey process takes into account hospitals’ time demands

HIM Connection, January 26, 2010

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Relief will come to facilities waiting for their unannounced survey by The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO), as a new and more collaborative process will take place in 2010, the organization announced recently. The new process is designed to be more sensitive to the time demands on facilities and staff during the survey process.
 
The Joint Commission will issue an e-mail alert to the facility that is scheduled to be surveyed saying which programs will be surveyed. This alert will also point the facility to the Joint Commission extranet page for a list of survey activities for each applicable accreditation program. In addition to receiving this new alert, organizations will be able to work with the surveyor during the survey to determine the best time for various survey activities.
 
Those accreditation organizations looking to survey in 2010 should expect to experience this new agenda. The new process does not affect certification reviews.
 
Complete details on these changes to the survey experience can be found The Joint Commission's Web site.
 
Hospitals should also take note that The Joint Commission has released its 2010 survey guide. This guide provides details for preparing for an upcoming accreditation survey by offering advice on facilitating the on-site survey process, discussing logistics involved with the survey, how to meet surveyor needs for information and material while on-site, and listing on-site survey activities.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published in HealthLeaders Media.



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