Hello everyone, my name is Ashley Zagoda,
and I'm glad that you're here to join us today
for our webinar presentation.
I'm just going to wait a moment or two more
to give people a minute to sign on,
but we'll be getting started quite shortly.
Thank you.
Okay. It is 1:02, so I think we're going to get started.
Again, I wanted to introduce myself. My name is Ashley Zagoda.
Good afternoon and thank you for joining us
at Joint Commission today.
I am part of the Home Care team here and I'll be moderating today's webinar.
Just as we get started,
I have a couple of pieces of housekeeping I wanted to take care of,
just to go over a few items
so you know how to participate in today's event.
We've taken a screenshot here of an example of the attendee interface.
You should see something that looks like this
on your own computer desktop in the upper right corner.
You've joined the presentation listening
using your computer's speaker system by default,
but if you prefer to join over the phone,
just select telephone in the Audio menu,
and the dial-in information will be displayed.
You will have the opportunity to submit text questions to me
during the webinar today
by typing your questions into that Questions pane
in the control panel,
and you can send your questions at any time during the presentation.
I'll be collecting them and addressing them
at the end, in the Q&A section of today's presentation.
And if I don't get to your question,
then I'll follow up with you directly after the webinar
and make sure that I get you the information that you're looking for.
So, again, thank you for being here today.
I'm Ashley Zagoda,
and I've been part of the Home Care team at Joint Commission
for almost three years.
I'll be your speaker.
And today we're going to be covering just a few of the reasons
why choosing The Joint Commission as your accreditor
gives you a competitive advantage in the home care space.
First, we'll spend just a moment on who we are,
and then we'll cover the market distinctions,
clinical outcomes,
and the tools and resources
that define the experience of being Joint Commission accredited for Home Care.
We'll have time for questions at the end, again.
So if you have any, please feel free to pop them in the chat,
but for now, let's dive in.
So, as we get started, I'd like to note that on these title card slides,
you'll see some little customer testimonial quotes
over there on the right,
talking about the experience and benefits of working with us.
If you have any questions on those, please feel free to let me know.
But, for now, let's talk a little bit about who we are.
The Joint Commission at its core is a performance improvement company.
Our goal is to improve the health care that's delivered to patients
all over the continuum of care,
but for right now, we're going to be focusing on home care.
Our accreditation is recognized as a symbol of quality
that reflects an organization's commitment
to meeting the defined performance standards
that are uniquely focused on home care
and helping to promote the safety of patient care.
Accreditation is also a great way to establish a solid foundation
for the high quality care of your organization.
If we take a look at who we are by the numbers,
The Joint Commission is offering a robust portfolio
of accreditation and certification programs
with more than 70 years experience and 20,000 accredited programs.
But with more than 4,500 accredited home care organizations,
home care is actually the biggest customer base
for The Joint Commission,
and we serve the full continuum of home care,
as you can see there in the middle.
Our Gold Seal is a distinction of quality that's recognized worldwide,
and we're proud to be synonymous
with those strong safety and quality standards.
So, again, we'll just take a quick look into how that accreditation works.
So, accreditation, as we discussed,
is a quality-focused market distinction
that's achieved by demonstrating your organization's performance
against a set of industry standards.
Now, those standards are national guidelines
that provide an organizational framework
to support improvements in care, treatment, or services.
They're developed with input from your industry peers
and nationally accredited experts,
and are considered the industry benchmark for quality and safety.
Organizations, if they're interested in accreditation with us,
will voluntarily invite and partner with The Joint Commission
to come into their organization every three years
to evaluate their operations in a survey
in order to improve the quality of care,
efficiency and effectiveness of those services.
The Joint Commission survey looks,
quote unquote, under the hood of an organization
beyond law and regulation.
It includes not only
looking at the provision of care, treatment and services
or the record of care,
but also incorporates National Patient Safety Goals.
Now, accreditation is the foundation of everything we do,
but it is just the beginning.
Every certification service or educational program that we offer
is designed to help you strengthen your quality,
enhance your outcomes, and advance your reputation
so that you, the provider,
can stand head and shoulders above your competitors.
But the question is, of course, how do we do that
and what does it do for you specifically?
So, let's talk a little bit about what Joint Commission accreditation does.
How does The Joint Commission make a demonstrable difference
in your quality, safety, and efficiency?
The answer to that is by understanding your priorities
and your challenges and goals,
and using that information
to build our customer-focused programs and offerings from the ground up.
Our business is helping you overcome some of your biggest obstacles
through our accreditation and certification services.
So, the first bit here is that reliable high quality care.
As your organization grows and scales and integrates services to meet demand,
you're going to need, hopefully, a single source accreditor
to strengthen your ability to deliver consistently safe,
high-quality care across all of your sites.
Our accreditation standards give you
the industry's most proven and trusted framework
to standardize processes at that consistently high level,
ensuring the best possible outcomes for your patients.
Once established, these standards provide reliable training protocols
for employees across all locations,
allowing for dramatically increased level of continuity of care for your patients,
even during times of high turnover.
And I know we all experienced that during COVID.
Another way here is by helping you achieve and maintain regulatory compliance
for the maximum possible reimbursement.
So, as a complimentary part of your accreditation,
our dedicated state and payer team works to build visibility and preference
for your accreditation achievement.
That means that our state and payer teams
actively search for any relevant regulatory, legislative,
or payer opportunities where accreditation may be recognized.
And these recognitions enhance the value of your accreditation
as they can be used to meet a state licensure requirement
or bring additional benefits to you
as a requirement for a value-based payment model as one example.
One other major way that we help our customers grow
is by differentiating themselves and elevating their brands
in the crowded market that home care has become.
I think we can all agree
that the home care market has become busier than ever,
and providers are rapidly growing to meet that demand.
Patients are opting to receive care at home whenever possible
with continually increasing acuity and complexity of care.
And among consumers, referrers, and networks,
recognition for Joint Commission accreditation
is higher than any other accreditor.
So when you achieve accreditation with us,
you'll have access
to the industry's most respected and sought after market distinction,
which is our Gold Seal of Approval.
Insurers and payers use our Gold Seal as a condition of payment approval,
contract eligibility, and network participation,
which makes it an indispensable part of your brand strength.
So, that's three major ways that we help you grow.
But, like you, I'm sure,
we're always paying close attention to our own performance,
and we constantly strive to improve our programs and customer experience.
So every year we check in with our customers
to see what they think about the experience,
and, as I said, our program process and team.
We are very proud to know that our accreditation
is helping our customers strengthen that performance
and improve efficiencies
so they can focus on the delivery of safe, high-quality care.
This year, our customers' feedback reflects a very high level of satisfaction
with several factors located here,
but the ones that we've highlighted here are:
the overall experience of accreditation,
the value of Joint Commission accreditation,
and the external benefits that they receive
as a result of working with us.
These are just a few of the pieces of that feedback.
But, of course, one of the main questions must be, how does that external validation
actually manifest itself in our customers operations
and bottom line?
Let's take a look at how these market distinctions
and recognitions do just that.
So, accreditation makes your organization better
not only on the inside, but on the outside as well.
Joint Commission accreditation
demonstrates to your referral sources and your customers
that you are committed to providing the best quality care.
Accreditation can be a deciding factor
when family and or referral sources are choosing the right fit.
So they want to go with the Gold standard.
So should you.
When it comes to accreditation,
no organization can match
The Joint Commission's experience and knowledge.
This legacy of excellence and robust expertise
is applied with equal passion and rigor to our home care programs.
Our comprehensive, solution-focused approach
elevates performance on key components of care
that foster better outcomes, enhanced safety,
and greater success with business relationships.
Every accreditor can do a survey,
but The Joint Commission's survey looks different, feels different,
and teaches you more than any other.
All of our surveyors are employed by The Joint Commission,
and we're the only accreditor that can say that.
We don't use contractors.
So, from the moment they arrive,
they serve as collaborative best practice educators
during the survey experience.
They're seasoned industry experts
with years of hands-on clinical and operational backgrounds,
and they know how to support your team while troubleshooting common obstacles.
When you combine that level of expertise with the tools and resources
and established excellence of The Joint Commission,
it's easy to see how the Gold Seal of Approval
can substantially enhance your brand and reputation
and set you apart from your competition.
So, how can those recognitions work for you?
Let's take a look at three of the major types that we offer.
So, Joint Commission accreditation is increasingly being used by states,
insurers, and payers as a condition of payment approval,
contract, or licensure eligibility
for a higher reimbursement.
Accreditation can also strengthen your presence in managed care networks
and increase your referral base.
When you're looking at state licensure,
Joint Commission has been approved by many states
as an option for groups seeking initial licensure
or licensure renewals,
and this recognition applies to a wide variety of providers,
and maybe a faster option than state survey.
For the Medicare certification side,
The Joint Commission is recognized as a deeming authority
for the accreditation of home health and hospice organizations
by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, or CMS,
which allows us to help ensure Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements
for our customers.
So, as a result,
Joint Commission-accredited home health and hospice organizations
may request a deemed status survey option
to meet Medicare and Medicaid certification requirements
without being required to undergo additional state surveys,
which helps us ensure for our customers
streamlined and speedy CMS reimbursement.
Last on this section here,
we've got corporate, payer, or partner recognitions.
So, insurance, as we said before,
insurers and payers increasingly use Joint Commission
as a condition of payment approval,
contract eligibility, or network participation.
So, it's common for insurance providers
to ask for a provider's accreditation status
or a copy of the provider's accreditation certificate
in contract applications.
And in specific markets, such as Illinois and Massachusetts,
Blue Cross Blue Shield went as far as requiring
Joint Commission accreditation as a requirement for participation
in their preferred provider networks.
Joint Commission customers also have access
to exclusive financial incentives
that can even, in some cases, cover the cost of accreditation
through organizations
like One80 Intermediaries/ Manchester Specialty,
and Highmark.
Last, of course, we've got again
the mention of our state and federal and payer relations teams,
along with our public policy teams
which interface with stakeholders
on key legislative, regulatory, and public policy issues
to promote safe and high-quality care.
They're working to build visibility and preference
for your accreditation achievement.
And again, we are always actively searching
for any of those recognition opportunities
to help you maximize your participation or reimbursement.
Then, again, though, we'd like to help make a little bit of a broader impact.
Here, in addition to helping facilitate stronger revenue and reimbursement,
and expanded network participation,
our recognitions and distinctions help you elevate your brand
so you can strengthen your competitive edge overall.
By aligning directly with your referral partners,
you could help drive those referrals to keep your business growing,
while additional network and contract participation
strengthens that reimbursement and revenue.
Earning accreditation also allows for increased reliability
of training and performance
through the best practices gained through the standards
and those insights learned through the survey process,
which help you attract and retain qualified, dedicated caregivers and staff.
As those staff members continue to care for your patients,
you can use The Joint Commission's exclusive tools
to gather, manage, and analyze your survey data more efficiently
to help allocate resources more effectively
and protect your outcomes.
This improved staffing, outcomes, growth, and reliability
strengthens the community confidence
in the quality and safety of care, treatment, and services that you offer,
helping you to stand out and excel in the market.
Achieving accreditation makes strong statement to the community
about an organization's efforts to provide the highest quality services.
And by earning the industry's most recognized quality distinction,
you can differentiate yourself from the competition
and elevate your brand.
Demonstrating your commitment to the highest quality
does more than just strengthen your brand though,
it also strengthens your outcomes.
There are several ways that
Joint Commission accreditation for Home Care
can help you improve your outcomes,
but we wanted to take a look--
we're going to take a look today exactly how our standards
can lead to increased reliability of performance,
better outcomes, and improved quality.
So here we go.
The first thing that we looked at
for how Joint Commission accreditation for Home Care was risk reduction.
For the first section here, we have preparedness,
which the goal here is to help ensure
that you have your processes and procedures in place
so you can manage your clients,
minimize the impact of unexpected high-risk situations,
and help mitigate any unexpected or difficult
opportunities for challenges.
So for our customers,
accreditation was a key benefit for managing through difficult challenges,
like for instance, the COVID-19 pandemic.
For standardization, we help standardize the processes
across programs, and staff, and locations
to help enhance consistency and reduce variations in care.
Survey reports identify and prioritize areas of risk,
and they help strengthen patient safety efforts.
And then those two pieces, the preparedness and standardization,
lead to a stronger safety culture.
So we help to develop these standards to define a safety culture
and guide you to build that within your culture
and with your employees.
Employee engagement is key to increasing staff retention
and improving staff and client satisfaction,
because we know that you'd rather funnel more resources
into the clinical work itself
instead of spending time, energy, and revenue
to fix issues as they occur.
One major facet of how we decided to quantify the actual impact
of Joint Commission accreditation in the Home Care space
was that we chose to get to work on two separate studies.
The first was an observational study released in 2018,
and the second is a validation study released in 2022.
The goals of these studies were to determine the presence
of Joint Commission accreditation's impact in home care
on one of the most important areas for our industry,
which would be clinical outcomes measures.
So using a combination of CMS star ratings,
and 17 different other quality measures,
researchers compared the performance
of Joint Commission-accredited and non-Joint Commission-accredited
home health agencies
using the publicly available CMS Home Health Compare Set.
Both studies included, again, the CMS STAR ratings,
OASIS HHC measures, and claims measures
to compare our customers' outcomes
with the outcomes of providers who were not accredited by us.
Now, I'm stressing it this way because it's important to note
that this latter category of customers who are not accredited by Joint Commission
includes providers who are working with other accreditors
in the Home Care space.
So the only two categories were our customers and not our customers,
whether they were accredited by other organizations or not,
so that we assumed would have a relatively large impact
on the outcomes,
but what we found was really exciting,
our Home Care customers continue to demonstrate
superior performance in both studies
when compared to their peers
who are not accredited by Joint Commission.
So stronger overall performance,
Joint Commission accredited home care organizations
were more likely to have high overall quality ratings
of four stars and above,
and had a higher average rating on the CMS five-star rating scale.
And higher quality as well.
Joint Commission accredited home care organizations
performed better on 11 out of 14 of the OASIS HHC measures.
They performed the same on two of the 14
and worse on only one process measure.
And that was checking how often the home health team
made sure that the patient had received a pneumonia vaccine.
Other than that, Joint Commission performed the same
or, the vast majority of the time, better than...
home care organizations
that were not accredited by Joint Commission.
And then better outcomes.
The Joint Commission accredited home care organizations
had lower rehospitalization rates across all three years of each study
and were less likely to have unplanned care in the emergency room
without being admitted.
Again, we were very excited about these results,
but...
the main takeaway here is that,
these results show that there is a clear relationship
between Joint Commission accreditation and home healthcare agency quality.
Our customers are able to provide demonstrably better care
for their patients,
which translates into innumerable performance, operational,
and reputation-based benefits for the caregivers, patients,
and the organizations themselves.
Our mission is to continuously improve healthcare for the public
in collaboration with other stakeholders
by evaluating healthcare organizations
and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care
of the highest quality and value.
And we're very proud to show these results that confirm
that we're making progress toward that goal.
But what are some of the other ways
that Joint Commission can help your organization
perform better than its peers?
Well, I'd love to tell you.
So, there's no comparison.
No other accreditor offers a stronger suite
of business intelligence tools
than The Joint Commission.
Our exclusive resources help your team work smarter
and do more with your accreditation.
From our SAFER dashboard
to our publications,
to supplemental offerings, and our teams of experts,
we are ready to help you make the most of your accreditation achievement.
Again, we've got these four things that we're going to hit on,
but a few of them are relatively quick.
We're going to dive right in to the first one,
which is our SAFER dashboard.
As we go through these slides,
you'll see here that there are also a few more of those little talking bubbles
in the corner of the page.
That's because we always like to come back
to how our customers feel about their experience.
They're the best voice and the authority
in what it's like to be a partner with Joint Commission.
So we find tremendous value in their perspective.
So, the SAFER dashboard,
it is a powerful data intelligence tool
available exclusively to Joint Commission accredited organizations.
This one-stop on-demand dashboard
gives you an executive overview of all your survey-related activity
across all of your sites without the need for manual entry,
which empowers the timely, data-driven decisions
that drive the delivery of safe, high-quality care.
This breakthrough technology
allows your team to spot trends and performance more easily
and more confidently identify and prioritize areas to address
to improve outcomes,
while benchmarking your performance against peers,
both nationally and regionally.
Let's talk about a few of the benefits of this dashboard here.
SAFER Dashboard, as we said, is a self-serve data analytic tool,
but it includes and is characterized by visualizations
to help simplify complex data.
The dashboard plots Requirements For Improvement,
which is referred to as RFIs,
according to the likelihood of the issue
to cause harm to patients, staff, or visitors,
and how widespread the problems are based on the surveyors' observations.
Surveyors perform real-time on-site evaluation of deficiencies,
placing each RFI within the SAFER matrix,
and it allows decision makers to view all of that on-site survey data
in one place, using these graphical representations,
including charts and all different visualizations
within that same SAFER matrix.
Users can view historical data as well as the new survey data,
making it easier to identify patterns, trends, and relationships over time.
Here's an example of one of those,
an example of one of the screenshots here from the SAFER dashboard.
This is the executive summary page.
You can see that the top 10 most frequently cited standards
are on the left,
with a prioritized matrix of your organization's survey data
on the right,
giving you the ability to see a much broader national perspective.
Now, this is one of the many, many ways that you can organize this information,
but you can reconfigure it however you prefer in the moment
and as your needs dictate.
This tool is especially valuable for home care organizations
whose employees are spread across many locations or even nationwide.
Now you can get a much better view
of how your data comes together in real time
instead of assembling it piece by piece.
This tool clarifies your quality initiatives
by determining and prioritizing areas of potential improvement
and informing your resource allocation.
It provides the data intelligence
and visibility you need across the organization
to inform both critical and planned decision-making.
So we've got one more screenshot here.
In this one, as you can see,
the national comparison data here offers a direct comparison
of where the nation's home care companies are having survey findings,
and where this hypothetical organization is having survey findings,
so that we can see exactly where to allocate our time,
funding, and staff to address the specific challenges
before they take a toll on this organization's outcomes
or reputation.
This comparison data gives you a bird's-eye view to reveal trends
so that you can compare against your peers within your region or across the nation,
driving greater understanding and application of the survey data.
So, we're going to move here to some of our specific publications.
We know how important it is to feel prepared for your initial survey,
so we've designed a comprehensive suite of informational resources
to set you up for success.
Through our customer portal, Joint Commission Connect,
you'll have access to the full arsenal of tools
that you need to feel comfortable and supported
while you get the most out of the accreditation process.
Some of those tools include our survey readiness tools,
which includes guides and checklists and what to expect on the survey,
and targeted solutions tools,
which focus on critical areas for home care like falls,
to help you post survey and with tackling common challenge areas.
We also offer hot topic portals that keep you up-to-date
on key focus areas.
Again, those were really crucial during COVID.
And informational webinars, again,
such as this one,
but also more specifically to address frequently discussed topics.
And we also offer home care-specific publications,
such as The Joint Commission Perspectives,
which is our official monthly e-periodical.
And we also offer guidance and best practices
for positive survey experience,
like the Heads-Up Reports,
which can help you avoid common survey challenges
and help you know where to focus your preparations,
so you can provide your team with the best specific strategies
to identify and mitigate negative effects
before they take a toll on your organization.
So, additionally, we have here,
if the need arises for formal education
beyond what our complementary resources can provide,
organizations can turn to Joint Commission Resources.
Joint Commission Resources can help organizations
achieve and maintain survey readiness
by offering a full slate of solutions all in one place at every price point.
So we've got pieces like the learning resources,
like the Digital Learning Center, which is an on-demand access
to our education and publication portfolio,
or also opportunities like the Online Breakfast Briefing series,
which is a set of standards-based webinars.
We also offer e-products and software tools like PolicySource,
which is our customizable policy and procedure libraries,
and Tracers with AMP, which is a cloud-based tool
that is designed to anticipate, reduce, and report risk.
We also offer several different options
for specific seminars, webinars, and software, if those are needed,
or eBooks, like the Home Care Compliance Assessment Checklist,
which is part of or goes with the Big Book of Checklists,
very popular tool,
and the Toolkit for New Accreditation Professionals,
so that you can find the key concepts for accreditation.
all in one place in an easy-to-follow format.
Joint Commission Resources also offers custom advisory services
and educational options to help home care organizations
prepare and stay ready
for Joint Commission accreditation and certification.
So I also wanted to touch here on our teams
because at the Joint Commission,
our most valuable assets are our people.
Our team is comprised of a deep bench of home care experts
handpicked for their extensive and specialized clinical
and or industry experience,
but only within home care.
And here are a few of the teams that are ready to guide you
every step of the way.
So, the Business Development staff
is usually the first team that answers the call
when you're ready to reach out to us to learn how to get started.
They are standing by, ready to answer initial questions
and provide access to standards and your application as you get started.
Once you submit your application,
your Account Executive is your dedicated point of contact,
and they're ready anytime to help you with your survey dates
and any other questions as they come up.
And when it comes time for your survey,
you'll meet the members of our Survey Team.
All of our surveyors are employed by The Joint Commission, again,
so they become objective evaluators
and proactive risk mitigators during the survey experience,
keeping it collaborative, methodical, and positive.
This way, you can learn what is working well,
where potential issues may lie,
and it'll help you find strategies to proactively address those challenges.
And again, our surveyors are Home Care experts,
and every one of them is master's prepared or has a doctorate,
so every one of them is able to address any challenges or issues that pop up.
If there's any questions or confusion about the standards themselves,
the Standards Interpretation Group is always available to assist
with questions related to compliance of Joint Commission standards.
No matter whether you're calling the Business Development Team
about your application,
or discussing your survey with your Account Executive,
or asking clarifications from the Standards Interpretation Group,
you can be confident that you're working
with the most dedicated and knowledgeable team in Home Care.
To wrap up here,
if you took one thing away from this webinar,
I hope that you know that other accrediting agencies may evaluate,
but they cannot offer the scope of support, tools and resources
that The Joint Commission provides
to help organizations excel beyond the survey.
We walk the journey with you and we're ready when you are.
I'm going to shift here to the Question section here.
We have a question that came through early on.
The first one is, is it possible for a startup company
to undertake the accreditation process while starting,
even before beginning to offer services?
To answer that question,
I would say it depends specifically on the type of accreditation
that you would be looking for,
so it depends on the setting that you're offering
or that you're within,
and if you are looking for something that would replace state licensure,
or you're looking for CMS deeming,
those questions,
honestly, the best person to reach out to would be our Home Care team,
and their contact info is displayed right on the screen right now.
Each individual person's needs can be very specific
and sometimes they can--
it's easier to answer the questions based on each organization's
specific needs and abilities,
but the person who can help you the best
would be a member of our Business Development Team.
They are just great, and they know everything,
every single thing that would help you answer that question.
More specifically, I don't want to just give general information
in case it doesn't apply to this particular question's asker.
And then there are a couple of other ones here that came in.
The first one is how long does the accreditation process take?
Again, that one is sort of up to the providers.
So, basically, once you reach out to us,
we'll walk you through the process of the steps to accreditation,
and we'll gauge your readiness
based on where you are on those steps already.
Some people are just barely getting started,
and it might take them a little longer.
Some other providers might be a little bit further down the line.
But once you submit your application,
you get to tell us when you're ready for survey.
So, once you submit that survey readiness date,
it would depend on our surveyor schedule,
your location, the types of surveys you would require.
And again, those specific exact timelines
would be something that the Business Development Team could give you,
but it varies based on each individual customer's needs.
I have one more here, it says,
I feel like there aren't that many home care providers
that become accredited.
Does it actually make a difference for the brand?
I actually hear this a lot, and I can speak to this one.
When it comes to a competitive advantage,
what you're looking for is always a way to differentiate yourself.
So when you find out that your competition
within the home care market is not getting accredited,
you know, when we hear that, when we hear a potential customer say,
"No one in my space is getting accredited."
Our answer to that is, "Yes, exactly. That's exactly why."
You know, it's a perfect target for you to differentiate yourself.
And you know that is pretty rare
within maybe your region,
or your area, or the settings, or the services you're providing.
It creates a way to differentiate yourself,
but also to tell consumers, "Hey, I am making commitment here
to prove to you that you are getting the best quality care,
and I'm cutting no corners and I'm making the most investment here."
It absolutely is a distinction that your customers can understand,
and it's a consistent piece of proof
that you are going to be dedicating your time and effort
not to cutting corners,
but to allowing that evaluation from an external independent organization
like The Joint Commission.
And sometimes it can make all the difference,
whether it's with a potential customer of yours
or with a potential network that you'd like to participate in.
I believe that that is all the questions that came in.
Oh, nope, there's one more.
What does the survey team look for when they come visiting?
The answer to that is the standards.
we have available to--
If you were to reach out to the Home Care team,
they would give you access so you can see what the standards are,
but the standards are, again, that list of...
sort of performance measures
that the home care organizations would be asked to perform against.
They're not prescriptive.
We don't say you have to do A, B, and C to achieve, you know, this standard.
What we say is, this is the standard that the performance should be at.
And we leave it up to each individual organization
to achieve that performance measure
in the way that works best for them.
The surveyors would come to your organization,
and they would follow your caregivers to the patient's homes,
because, of course, we're in home care.
So they would follow the caregivers to the patient's homes,
and they would observe how that care is delivered
based on those standards.
So, again, they're not prescriptive.
They're holding your caregivers accountable
to reaching those performance measures.
And the last one that I have here is,
once you're accredited, can you begin taking insurance?
Insurance organizations each have specific requirements.
So I can't say specifically for all insurance
that one, again, is sort of a case by case basis.
But what I can say is that
you can't get CMS,
the Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement,
until you're already certified through Medicare.
And Joint Commission accreditation can suffice,
there's the word, can suffice
as CMS certification
in all 50 states.
So if, let's just say you're in Illinois.
and you're starting a home care organization,
and you want to start collecting reimbursement from Medicare,
you would need to either go through Medicare
or through an organization like Joint Commission
to begin collecting those reimbursements.
So, insurance organizations,
each of them have different conditions of participation,
they would have similar requirements,
but each insurance has their own COPs.
So it would be up to those organizations to determine exactly what you need to do.
I hope that's helpful.
If not, please feel free to reach out to me and let me know.
You can reach me at HomeCare@JointCommission.org
if you need me to, or if you have questions specifically for me,
but this contact info goes to the Home Care team,
the Business Development Team,
and they would probably be able to answer your questions
for your specific organization a little bit more competently
than I'm doing right now.
I don't see any other questions in the chat
that I've seen come through,
but if anyone has any questions,
please feel free to submit them either via email or in the Questions pane.
I am going to collapse that pane. Okay.
I think that's, like I said, that's all the questions that we have,
so we'll begin to wrap up.
Again, if you have anything else you have questions about,
please feel free to reach out to us directly through this contact info here.
But as we conclude, please remember,
you can access this webinar anytime on our website as soon as it's posted.
And if you'd like to have a more in-depth conversation with us
about your organization and its specific needs,
please feel free to reach out via email, telephone, or our website.
We'd love to learn more about you
and help you along your journey to accreditation.
Thank you so much for being part of today's discussion.
It's been wonderful.
An on-demand recording of this webinar and all these presentation slides
will be sent over very shortly
for you to review at your convenience.
We are really grateful for your time and we hope you have a great afternoon.
Thank you so much for being here.