Accreditation Newsletters

Briefings on Accreditation and Quality will help you with all of your accreditation and survey preparation needs. Every month, Briefings on Accreditation and Quality takes a look at problematic standards, identifies best practices, and clarifies the latest updates and changes from The Joint Commission, CMS, and other regulatory and accreditation organizations. Briefings on Accreditation and Quality also offers bonus content, tools, sample policies, and more online.

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Issue 12, December 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Safety alert: Bacterial infections associated with heater-cooler devices

  Last month, the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a safety...

• Joint Commission: Medical records, infection control, medication management among most clinical challenging standards

  Hospitals continue to struggle with several Joint Commission standards, including those covering...

• Keeping an eye on Congress in 2016

  As CMS works to get its legislative agenda back on track, there are several key issues that...

• AAAHC moves into hospital accreditation market with HFAP acquisition

  In early October, the Accreditation Association, the parent company of the Accreditation...

• No cause for alarm

  Boston Medical Center continues to successfully reduce unnecessary clinical alarms Clinical alarm...

Issue 11, November 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• How many healthcare policies does the medical staff need to approve?

  With an increasing number of regulations, National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG), Sentinel Event...

• FDA issues safety alert on bronchoscopes

  On September 17, the FDA issued a safety alert around infections associated with reprocessed...

• The first 100 days

  Less than five minutes after I was offered the position of accreditation and regulatory...

• Let's get organized and trace

  There is no magic structure, and one size does not fit all, but there are some general guidelines...

• The importance of work-life balance

  Work-life balance is a foreign term to most people in healthcare. Our industry is very good at...

Issue 10, October 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Infection control is an area of increased concern in 2015

  When The Joint Commission released its list of the five most-cited standards for the first half of...

• Putting together an alarm management plan

  The topic of alarm hazards has crowned ECRI's top 10 list of health technology hazards for the last...

• How burnout can affect your healthcare organization

  Burnout drains organizations of their mission and leads to costly and sometimes lethal...

Issue 9, September 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• California announces second phase of General Acute Care Hospital Relicensing Survey pilot

  The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) rolled out Phase II of its General Acute Care...

• A day in the life of an accreditation professional: Paula Brinn

  Editor's note: This recurring feature focuses on a typical day in the life of an accreditation...

• Organizing the team, communication, and education

  Editor's note: The following is an excerpt from Chapter Leader's Guide to Information Management by...

• Use gratitude to strengthen your organization

  Gratitude is one of the most powerful forces that move an organization forward. It requires little...

Issue 8, August 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Top 10 most-cited Joint Commission standards

  For the last several years, The Joint Commission's semiannual list of the most-cited standards has...

• Core elements of hospital antibiotic stewardship programs

  The creation and expanded use of antibiotics has allowed for the successful treatment of routine...

• Recruiting and training chapter leaders

  As The Joint Commission shifted to a more integrated survey, many hospitals moved away from the...

• The importance and impact of alignment

  Editor's note: Patrick Pianezza, MHA, currently works for VEP Healthcare as manager of patient...

Issue 7, July 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Salary survey shows accreditation professionals see increase in pay, responsibilities

  HCPro's first salary survey of accreditation professionals in three years found growth in both...

• CMS updates hospital and CAH guidelines

  The CMS earlier this year published revised guidelines for both Appendix A, Survey Protocol...

• Top 10 most-cited Joint Commission standards

  The Joint Commission released its list of top-cited standards for all of 2014 in April. Not...

• Risk reduction strategies contribute to continuous survey readiness

  What is the best way to be prepared for patients each and every day? It is to create a safe...

• Workforce analytics (Part 3)

  This is the final installment of a three-part series in which the authors introduce the idea of...

Issue 6, June 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• First quarter 2015 survey notes

  Early reports of first-quarter survey experiences are starting to trickle in, and, according to...

• Behavioral healthcare in hospitals

  With CMS and The Joint Commission increasingly pushing to make sure facilities are following...

• ISMP guidelines for standard order sets

  The Joint Commission has turned its attention?or rather, turned its attention back to?the...

• Workforce analytics (Part 2)

  This is the second installment of a three-part series where the authors introduce the idea of...

Issue 5, May 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The silent safety epidemic

  In public discussion, workplace violence often receives top billing as a hospital situation that...

• Mind and body

  More and more, accrediting and regulatory bodies are focusing on behavioral health and how it...

• Active shooter preparation

  It feels as if not a day goes by without talking about the need for active shooter planning in...

• Workforce analytics

  Workforce analytics can be considered the future of human resources. It is the new way of making...

Issue 4, April 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Connecting leadership to patient safety

  To build more accountability in the area of patient safety, one group has crafted a tool staff are...

• CMS annual report

  Every year, CMS releases an annual financial report. Within that report, the agency provides a...

• CMS issues guidelines update

    CMS issued a recent memo with updates to the Interpretive Guidelines impacting...

• Two cultures, one location

  Editor's note: Patrick Pianezza, MHA, currently works for VEP Healthcare as the manager of patient...

Issue 3, March 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement

  Accreditation specialists have a new tool to use when advocating for compliance with requirements...

• Safety Coach Role Description

  Systemwide concept improves culture

• Humidity levels

  A recent communication from a meeting of numerous organizations across the country convened by the...

• Leadership development

  Leadership development is more than just a one-time manager's course that employees must undergo as...

Issue 2, February 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Looking at sterilization processes and more

  Good catch, bad outcome, and ugly truth: These were the three themes established by infection...

• New campaign targets medical imaging tests

  The Joint Commission has released its latest "Speak Up"™ campaign, targeting...

• Leadership, accreditation, and improvement

  Accreditation and safety are inherently tied together, but connecting the two has been a challenge...

• Month 12 post-survey tips

  Every healthcare organization has a process for annual performance appraisals; in fact, it is a...

• Annual evaluations: Three basic tenets

  Few things in work create as much apprehension and stress as the annual evaluation. It is a...

Issue 1, January 1, 2015 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Looking ahead to 2015

  As a new year dawns, accreditation professionals look ahead at where the problematic and...

• CMS updates PSI worksheets

  In a memo dated October 31, 2014, the CMS Center for Clinical Standard and Quality/Survey and...

• Accreditation news in brief

  The Accreditation Association for Hospitals/Health Systems (AAHHS) will now offer an accreditation...

• Community paramedicine, ED-CAHPS, and Ebola ? oh my!

  This year has been full of interesting healthcare topics worthy of a year-end wrap-up. We start...