Blogs

Newman Memorial Hospital participated in The Joint Commission’s Rural Health Clinic (RHC) Accreditation Pilot Program to help improve patient outcomes.

A new report from the American Hospital Association (AHA), utilizing data analyzed by Vizient, brings much-needed good news to the healthcare industry. Hospital performance on key patient safety and quality measures has improved beyond pre-pandemic levels, suggesting that we are back on track and then some.

The Joint Commission's Responsible Use of Health Data™ (RUHD) Certification sets up guard rails and provides guidance for healthcare organizations to safely use properly de-identified patient data for purposes beyond clinical care, known as secondary use.

After recognizing a significant opportunity to improve the care provided to one of our nation’s most vulnerable populations, patient care teams at the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) developed a procedure called the Surgical Pause. This brief pause allows physicians and surgeons to take a step back and consider whether a surgery is really safe for a frail patient, as well as evaluate strengthening measures to prepare a patient for surgery.

At the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), health care equity has long been a concern, and we embraced The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) that launched on July 1, 2023. The NPSG, which addresses health care disparities as a quality and safety priority, has helped health care equity become deeply embedded into the quality and patient safety framework.

A study in the January 2024 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety (JQPS) describes a foundational step healthcare organizations need to take to facilitate the provision of equitable care: routine and systematic documentation of patients’ disability status in the electronic health record (EHR).

A research team examined the effectiveness of suicidal ideation screening in primary care. The findings are reported in the December 2023 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety.

The Joint Commission has learned from speaking to healthcare organizations that are active in sustainability is that there is a business case for making our hospitals and healthcare systems more sustainable.

Postpartum follow-up attendance rates have historically been low, with Black women facing even greater challenges. To address this, the University of Chicago Medicine launched the Systematic Treatment and Management of Postpartum Hypertension (STAMPP-HTN) program to tackle these issues head-on, with the goal to enhance postpartum care, manage blood pressure effectively, and eliminate racial health disparities.

Joint Commission Resources (JCR) created the Board Education Resource Center: a collection of complimentary resources to give boards and executive teams the vital support and education they need to best serve their organizations and communities.