Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations

Bates, D.W., Preventing Medication Errors. In Medication Use A Systems Approach to Reducing Errors (D.D. Cousins, ed.). Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations, Oakbrook Terrace, IL, 1999, pp. 57-73. 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations. 1998 Comprehensive Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. A.M.H Oakbrook Terrace, IL 1997. 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of health care Organizations (JCAHO) a private, not-for-profit organization that evaluated and accredits hospitals and other health care organizations providing home care, mental health care, ambulatory care, and long term care services. 

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO)... 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has incorporated pneumococcal and influenza immunization rates into some of their quality standards. Patients admitted to a hospital for community-acquired pneumonia should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines prior to discharge if not previously administered. In physicians office practice, all persons over 65 years of age who have been hospitalized in the past year should be screened for, offered, and vaccinated with pneumococcal and influenza vaccines if not previously administered. Both of these standards will affect payment if the standard is not met. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has also incorporated these standards into their accreditation reviews of health care facilities. 

Anonymous. 2003c. Performance Measures in Health Care. Washington, DC Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. 

In addition to specialty nursing accreditation bodies, the Joint Commission, formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), mandates specific areas in which health care institutions must ensure that employees are prepared. As part of the national emergency preparedness plan, JCAHO (2001) has mandated that all health care institutions be required to design and implement an emergency preparedness plan. In addition, each institution must establish an orientation and education program for staff and must conduct emergency preparedness drills at least twice a year. 

For-profit home infusion providers range from singlesite, private companies to multiple-site, million-dollar companies. All home care providers are licensed by the state and can chose to become accredited by several accrediting bodies (e.g.. Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc. (ACHC), Community Healthcare Accreditation Program (CHAP)). Accreditation is a requirement for many insurance companies to serve as a provider for their members. 

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a private, voluntary, not-for-profit organization that serves as a gatekeeper for health care quality and safety. Currently, more than 19,000 health care organizations in the United States and many other countries are JCAHO accredited. Since its earliest inceptions almost 50 years ago, JCAHO has striven to establish health care standards and performance measures. The mission of JCAHO is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. 

Recently, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) announced the development and approval of new standards for pain management. These standards affect the management of both acute and chronic pain in all health care settings. These standards are included in the 2000-2001 accreditation manuals and are highlighted in this article because they offer numerous opportunities for pharmacists to participate in the pain management process. 

The USP Chapter 797 details the procedmes and reqnirements for compounding all sterile preparations inclnding PN formnlations. These standards will apply to aU health care settings in which sterile preparations are componnded and will be nsed by boards of pharmacy, the FDA, and accreditation organizations snch as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Componnded sterile preparations (CSP) are defined by risk level (high, medinm, low) based on the probabihty of microbial, chemical, or physical contami-... 

Among a variety of rewards recognizing her work in patient safety is the Patient Safety Initiative Award for Patient-Provider Communication Solutions, presented to Morath in 2000 by the National Patient Safety Foundation and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. She was the inaugural recipient, in 2002, of the John M. Eisenberg Patient Safety Award for Individual Lifetime Achievement. Before she joined the staff at Children s, Morath s experience in health care included clinical practice, consultation, academic work, and... 

With Medicare s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, also known as Medicare Part A, workers make required contributions to the fund while fhey are employed. Upon retirement, workers receive health care benefits. By law, employers and their employees are required to pay equal portions of a payroll tax, which totals 2.9% of earned income.In 1997, almost 90% of the trust fund s income was from payroll taxes. The remaining income was generated from fhe inferesf earned from the trust fund. A beneficiary s Medicare Parf A insurance is limifed to only those hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation for Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). The JCAHO accreditation standards include explicit and extensive professional pharmacy acfivifies, indirectly supporting professional trends for clinical pracfice (see Chapfer 18). 

The United States has several major performance measurement systems in place. Two of the most important systems are those directed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for managed care organization (MCO) accreditation and The Joint Commission on Accreditation in Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) for health care organization accreditation. Both NCQA s performance measurement system, HEDIS, and JCAHO s IMSystem include several pharmaceutical outcomes indicators. 

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) in the United States recommends that all health care facilities in the country respond to sentinel events by using RCA within 45 days of their occurrence. 

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