The Joint Commission unveiled the SAFER matrix in May, announcing that it would replace its scoring system of evaluating safety issues and findings. The matrix is a 3 x 3 grid with the X-axis ranking the likelihood of a problem occurring and the Y-axis measuring how widespread the issue is....
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 11
Since the start of the 21st century, the U.S. has suffered several major disasters: hurricanes, floods, wildfires, blizzards, tornados, and terrorist attacks to name a few. In times of crisis, hospitals and healthcare centers are particularly susceptible to the chaos and failing infrastructure....
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 11
Logic says that electronic health records (EHR) should be a huge boon to healthcare quality. Up-to-date recordkeeping, real-time data, less paperwork, simpler transfers of information, electronic alerts: the list of benefits goes on and on.
However, a recent study published in the ...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 10
Editor’s note:Beginning this month, Briefings on Accreditation and Quality (BOAQ) is publishing its articles on a weekly basis. Each week in Accreditation Insider, a new article from that month’s issue of BOAQ will be featured with a link to the article for subscribers to...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 10
In August, Morehead Memorial Hospital of Eden, North Carolina, became the 150th hospital in the United States to receive ISO 9001:2008 certification from DNV-GL Healthcare. To earn it, Morehead had to undergo four years of preparation and surveys from the DNV, in addition to...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 10
Editor's note: The following is an edited excerpt from The Joint Commission's recent webinar "Managing patient outcomes: The battle against sepsis!" discussing its disease-specific care program for the condition. ...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 10
The Joint Commission's new standards for residential and outpatient eating disorder programs went into effect on July 1. The standards expand and add more specific guidelines on the care of eating disorder patients. It's important to note that these standards only appear in the...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 10
High reliability is a new term for an old concept: providing the highest quality products or services consistently and uniformly to all customers. There has been a host of tools, guidelines, initiatives, and programs focused on high reliability in nearly every industry....
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 9
Keeping a hospital compliant and survey ready is a difficult, endless, and often frustrating task. One of the difficulties can be impressing the importance of accreditation to those who aren't immersed in it on a daily basis. As such, it can help to remember what the...
Briefings on Accreditation & Quality - Volume 27, Issue 9
Attendees at this year's American Society of Healthcare Engineering conference were caught by surprise when George Mills, the Joint Commission's director of engineering, announced that Plans for Improvement (PFI) would be eliminated from its survey process. Starting August 1,...
