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 30, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Documentation: Getting the details right

  The pressure is on for hospitals to organize their binders. Starting January 1, 2017, The Joint...

• Why patient engagement matters

  On one hand, physicians are experts that people seek out because of their knowledge of human...

• Q&A: Managing LS, EC, and EM documentation

  Editor’s note: The topic of maintaining proper Life Safety (LS), Environment of Care (EC...

• Taking aim at workplace violence

  The problem of workplace violence (WPV) affects all industries, and it’s especially a concern...

Issue 11, November 28, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The CMS emergency preparedness rule: What you should already be doing

  Since the start of the 21st century, the U.S. has suffered several major disasters: hurricanes...

• Care quality and an effective EHR

  Logic says that electronic health records (EHR) should be a huge boon to healthcare quality...

• Q&A: Joint Commission exec answers SAFER matrix questions

  The Joint Commission unveiled the SAFER matrix in May, announcing that it would replace its scoring...

• Implementing a mandatory flu shot policy: What every employer should know

  Currently healthcare workers are not required by law to get a flu shot. But a number of states...

Issue 10, October 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Taking steps to reduce readmission rates

  Editor’s note: Beginning this month, Briefings on Accreditation and Quality (BOAQ) is...

• The upside of ISO certification

  In August, Morehead Memorial Hospital of Eden, North Carolina, became the 150th hospital in the...

• Q&A: Joint Commission talks sepsis certification

  Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from The Joint Commission's recent webinar...

• What you need to know about the Joint Commission's eating disorder standards

  The Joint Commission's new standards for residential and outpatient eating disorder programs went...

• High reliability and ORO 2.0

  High reliability is a new term for an old concept: providing the highest quality products or...

Issue 9, September 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The importance of avoiding denial of accreditation

  Keeping a hospital compliant and survey ready is a difficult, endless, and often frustrating task...

• Joint Commission eliminates Plans for Improvement

  Attendees at this year's American Society of Healthcare Engineering conference were caught by...

• CMS publicly unveils hospital star ratings

  After months of delays, CMS in July publicly released its hospital star ratings system on its...

• No changes in most common Sentinel Events for 2016

  The Joint Commission released its sentinel event statistics for the first half of 2016 in the...

Issue 8, August 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Joint Commission calls for antibiotic stewardship programs to become mandatory

  Currently, 60% of U.S. hospitals don't have an antibiotic stewardship program (ASP) that meets all...

• Proposed CMS policy changes

  In June, the Helping Hospitals Improve Patient Care Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives...

• Study: Opioid screening tools are ineffective

  Several solutions have been proposed to solve the opioid epidemic. The Centers for Disease Control...

• Joint Commission delays repeal of texting ban

  After initially reversing a ban on texting medical orders, The Joint Commission and CMS have...

• HFAP's top-cited deficiencies for critical access hospitals

  Editor's note: Recently, the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) released lists of...

Issue 7, July 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Joint Commission unveils revised scoring system

  The Joint Commission's post-survey process just became a bit easier for visual learners. In May...

• Implementing the CMS sepsis bundle

  Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from an interview with Sheri Campion, BSN, RN...

• Q&A: The methodology behind CMS' 'five-star' hospital ratings

  Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from a CMS webcast explaining how it developed...

• CMS, Joint Commission adopt 2012 edition of Life Safety Code®

  In a highly anticipated move expected to significantly affect the regulatory rules that hospitals...

Issue 6, June 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Advocacy group and Joint Commission spar over pain management standards

  As the struggle against opioid addiction rages on, The Joint Commission is facing criticism that...

• Joint Commission BoosterPak targets high-level disinfection

  In one of the most impressive BoosterPaks released by The Joint Commission, the accrediting body...

• Easing the accreditation transition

  The hospital accreditation landscape has grown more crowded in the last several years, but one...

• Deciphering CMS' sepsis bundle

  The recently released CMS sepsis bundle has attracted a lot of criticism.

• How to run a successful infection control mock tracer

  Last year, the Joint Commission's infection control (IC) standard IC.02.02.01 had the dubious honor...

Issue 5, May 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• Use a screening program to improve suicide prevention

  Suicides were the third most common sentinel event of 2015, with 95 reported cases in 2015's...

• The cultural cure to sentinel events

  The Joint Commission released its 2015 Sentinel Event Statistics in March; based on 936 reported...

• Avoid infectious outbreaks with strong device reprocessing policies

  Reusable medical devices carry a special risk of infection if they aren't properly reprocessed and...

• No surprises on list of most-cited Joint Commission standards in 2015

  Veteran accreditation professionals don't get too excited with the biannual release of The Joint...

Issue 4, April 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• CMS paints accreditation picture in annual report to Congress

  CMS has released its 2015 Report to Congress, which takes a look at the review, validation, and...

• Q&A: Understanding the new core quality measure sets

  How do you tell a good hospital from a bad one? The answer used to hinge on who you asked, with...

• Proposed National Patient Safety Goal examines impact of CT scan radiation on children

  The Joint Commission has proposed a National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) that highlights pediatric...

• Sentinel Event Alert highlights patient suicide risk

  How do you help patients who want to harm themselves? The Joint Commission addressed this question...

• Case study: How one hospital system prepared for CMS surveys

  CMS surveys have become a regular occurrence for many hospitals in the U.S. Over the past five...

Issue 1, January 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• FDA orders recall of automated endoscope reprocessors

  After a year of increased scrutiny over infection control issues related to endoscope...

• Restraints and seclusion: What accreditation professionals need to know

  After decades of discussion, the use of restraints and seclusion in healthcare is still a hot...

• Sentinel Event Alert aimed at preventing falls

  The focus of The Joint Commission's most recent Sentinel Event Alert (SEA) is a challenge...

• BOAQ 2015 index

  This index provides you with a handy listing of all the articles in Briefings on Accreditation and...

Issue 3, March 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• The top 10 health technology hazards and how to address them

  ECRI Institute has revealed its top 10 list of health technology hazards for 2016, and for those...

• Helping them quit: How hospitals implement smoking-cessation measures

  In 2012, The Joint Commission's tobacco cessation performance measure set took effect, encouraging...

• Joint Commission suspends Top Performing hospital program

  A good job is its own reward, but that doesn't mean recognition isn't appreciated. Last year, 1,043...

• Focusing on the right accreditation issues

  Preparing for CMS and Joint Commission surveys is a crucially important task, but are you focusing...

• Column: Patient satisfaction is not ruining healthcare

  This is an opinion, written by someone who in the interest of full disclosure is a director of...

Issue 2, February 1, 2016 - VIEW THE FULL ISSUE

• CMS tightens regulations around compounding medications

  Medications that are prepared outside the pharmacy will soon come under more intense scrutiny by...

• Get ready for changes to CMS discharge planning requirements

  Healthcare providers could see significant changes to CMS' requirements for discharge planning...

• How to comply with the updated staff education and training requirements from Joint Commission, CMS

  Editor's note: The following article was written by healthcare consultants Marlene Strader, PhD...