Explore Ambulatory Surgery Center Accreditation

For 45 years, The Joint Commission has led the way in shaping standards and defining best practices related to quality improvement efforts and patient care for more than 2,000 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across the nation. Organizations like yours have partnered with us to earn the highest recognition there is in ambulatory care accreditation — The Gold Seal of Approval^® from The Joint Commission.

There’s a reason why Joint Commission-accredited ambulatory surgery centers feel they’ve gone above and beyond to achieve patient safety and quality improvement goals. It’s because they have. Achieving Ambulatory Care accreditation not only enhances and objectively validates your performance reliability, it also:

• Proactively minimizes risk areas for your clients, staff and brand
• Creates a performance-focused competitive edge to help boost market share
• Leverages a vetted framework to grow or expand services
• Meets state/federal mandates or eligibility requirements for payers and network providers

Joint Commission accreditation isn’t just for hospitals. Our ASC-specific standards are a practical, industry-vetted framework to help you minimize risk and boost consistency in how care and services are delivered. Our requirements focus on key operational areas that most impact the safety and quality of personal care services, such as:

• Staff competency
• Patient assessment
• Medication management
• Infection control

Joint Commission is uniquely positioned to help your organization excel beyond accreditation with certifications that recognize your orthopedic specialty program. Options include core certifications for hip/ knee replacement and spinal surgery and Advanced Certification for Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement (THKR).

The Joint Commission works to establish and cultivate collaborative relationships with health plans, State Medicaid authorities and Medicaid managed care organizations. As these entities look to enhance provider quality, The Joint Commission increasingly has a role to play, through recognition of our accreditation or certification programs in new payment models. Below are examples specific to Ambulatory Surgery Centers:

• Deemed Status for Ambulatory Surgery Centers Accreditation: The Joint Commission is designated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) as an approved accreditor for ASCs seeking Medicare certification, and can provide accreditation and Medicare certification simultaneously through its survey process. CMS, not The Joint Commission, grants the final decision for Medicare certification.
• Blue Cross Blue Shield Association-Blue Distinction Centers for Specialty Care: Joint Commission Program: Advanced Total Hip and Total Knee Replacement Certification

In 2006, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) began Blue Distinction Specialty Care, a national designation program for various specific specialty care areas, with provider designations that are awarded by BCBSA’s independent licensees and local Blue Cross and/or Blue Shield (BCBS) companies. The Joint Commission is recognized in the Blue Distinction program of Knee and Hip Replacement with our Advanced Total Hip and Knee Replacement certification.