CMS gives Joint Commission conditional approval for critical-access hospital accreditation

The Joint Commission received approval from the CMS for its critical-access hospital accreditation program, but the approval was only conditional, and the program is on probation.

The CMS found that there were differences between the conditions that the Joint Commission imposes on hospitals and Medicare's conditions of participation. The discrepancies have arisen as Medicare's requirements have changed over the last six years, since the Joint Commission's program was last approved.

The CMS has given the Joint Commission until May 20, 2009, to update its standards to meet those of Medicare and be taken off of probation.

To learn more about the conditional approval:
- read this Modern Healthcare piece [1] (reg. req.)

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Joint Commission plans survey changes [3]