The Advantages of JCAHO

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) or The Joint Commission is the largest private-sector health care accreditation organization in the world. The Joint Commission, brings numerous advantages in the provision of health care to hospitals, office-based surgeries, long-term care homes and laboratories. Patients who are cared for in the over 15,000 health care organizations that are surveyed by JCAHO are the organization's primary beneficiaries of its advantages.

What Is JCAHO?

• The Joint Commission is a health care evaluation organization that was founded in 1951 to assist health care organizations in providing quality, safe and effective health care to patients. The Joint Commission, which is an independent non-profit, accomplishes this task by evaluating and accrediting thousands of health care organizations and programs in the United States and sets uniform performance standards. If a health care organization undergoes a successful on-site survey, the facility will receive the Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval.

Improved Patient Pain Management Standards

• The Joint Commission standards for pain management published in 2001 are significant for patient care because they demand that health care facilities initiate essential and consistent pain assessment and pain control intervention. These stringent standards require the health care provider to assess the existence, nature and intensity of patient pain and record the results of this assessment in a way that facilitates regular reassessment and follow-up care. The advantage for the patient is a uniform application of pain intensity measures that ensure consistency across facility departments. The Joint Commission has added pain as the "fifth vital sign," along with blood pressure, temperature, pulse and respiration measurements.

Health Care Gold Seal Achievement Advantage

• A health care facility that has received The Joint Commission's Gold Seal proves to the health care industry, as well as insurance providers and state health care regulators, that the facility has undergone and passed stringent health care accreditation audits. The Joint Commission accreditation makes the facility more competitive and generates more money. The Joint Commission accreditation process is performed every three years and surveys the level of competence in specific areas, not simply what the organization is capable of performing but what it actually achieves. For example, since 2004, The Joint Commission has focused on a facility's continuous standards compliance process and examines areas, such as plan of action and evidence of standards compliance.

Health Care Facility's Physical Environment

• By setting uniform standards in the health care facility's physical environment, The Joint Commission ensures that patients receive quality health care where the physical environment is safe and infection control is practiced. This is especially crucial when the health care staff is handling medical equipment and hazardous materials and waste. Physical environment accreditation also includes making certain that electrical, emergency power and medical gas systems are functioning according to uniform Joint Commission standards.