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The Joint Commission caps some EP scores under emergency management
Published May 2008
The Joint Commission (formerly JCAHO) has pulled back on fully scoring some provisions within its emergency management standards EC.4.11 through EC.4.18.
The scoring cap affects 15 specific elements of performance (EP) within the standards and will be effective until January 1, 2009.
The change was made because of the number of hospitals that were having trouble meeting these EPs during Joint Commission surveys in the first quarter of 2008, said Jerry Gervais, CHFM, CHSP, an engineer with the accreditor’s Standards Interpretation Group. Gervais spoke during a Joint Commission Resources, Inc., audioconference April 25.
Failure to comply with the new emergency management standards will therefore not affect 2008 accreditation decisions. The Joint Commission will continue to cite hospitals for non-compliance in their report and will require hospitals address them in an evidence of standards compliance. However, the Joint Commission said it will not include the standards in the count of the requirements for improvement that could lead to a decision of conditional accreditation or a preliminary denial of accreditation. Click here to read an alert from the Joint Commission.
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