The Joint Commission announced it will be reviewing its quality standards for any that should be “permanently retired” following the close of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Announced Sept. 13 by President and CEO Jonathan Perlin, M.D., in a release, the standards review will focus on the Joint Commission’s “above-and-beyond” requirements or those that go above and beyond the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Conditions of Participation.
A representative of the Joint Commission told Fierce Healthcare that the group does not yet have an idea of how many requirements could be deleted.
The commission expects to have its first set of reductions identified by January, the representative said. They would be reflected in its specifications manuals by July 2023 at the earliest.
Perlin said the commission is taking a cue from CMS, which waived certain requirements through the public health emergency and is now reviewing whether they should return.
The accreditation organization said its review will look at each above-and-beyond requirement to determine whether it still addresses an important quality and safety issue, if it is redundant and whether the time and resources providers would spend on compliance is in line with the benefit to patients.
“In addition to a direct review of each requirement, we will conduct quantitative analyses of scoring patterns and tests for redundancy,” Perlin wrote in the announcement. “Where necessary, we also will conduct literature and field reviews and engage experts within the field.”