JCAHO Background
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation’s predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has developed state-of-the-art, professionally based standards and evaluated the compliance of health care organizations against these benchmarks.
The Joint Commission evaluation and accreditation services are provided for the following types of organizations:
- General, psychiatric, children’s and rehabilitation hospitals.
- Health care networks, including health plans, integrated delivery networks and preferred provider organizations.
- Home care organizations, including those that provide home health services, personal care and support services, home infusion and other pharmacy services, durable medical equipment services and hospice services.
- Nursing homes and other long term care facilities, including subacute care programs, dementia programs and long term care pharmacies.
- Assisted Living residencies that provide or coordinate personal services, 24-hour supervision and assistance (scheduled and unscheduled), activities and health-related services.
- Behavioral health care organizations, including those that provide mental health, chemical dependency, and mental retardation/developmental disabilities services for patients of various ages in various organized service settings; and managed behavioral health care organizations.
- Ambulatory care providers, including outpatient surgery facilities, rehabilitation centers, infusion centers, group practices and others.
- Clinical laboratories.
Accreditation by the Joint Commission is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that indicates that an organization meets certain performance standards. To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years. However, laboratories must be surveyed every two years.
Significant Milestones
1951
The American College of Surgeons (ACS), American College of Physicians, the American Hospital Association, the American Medical Association, and the Canadian Medical Association joined to create the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals, an independent, not-for-profit organization whose primary purpose is to provide voluntary accreditation.
1965
Congress passes the Social Security Amendments of 1965 with a provision that hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission are "deemed" to be in compliance with most of the Medicare Conditions of Participation for Hospitals and, thus, able to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.