ASSIGNMENT 2. 1. Assignment 2 Institution Student Cours

Running head: ASSIGNMENT 2 1
Assignment 2
Institution
Student
Course
Date

ASSIGNMENT 2 2
Assignment 2
Health Law
Part 1
The role of the Joint Commission in accrediting medical facilities
The primary goal of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Medical Facilities is to
incessantly improve the quality and safety of care provided to the people by offering health care
certification and other similar services which sustain performance development in health care
centers (Alkhenizan, & Shaw, 2011). The main role of Joint Commission in this endeavor is
ensuring proper Medication management, Infection control, information usage for improvement
purposes, and incomparable emergency preparedness. Some of its current accreditation
initiatives include conducting unannounced surveys, information-based intra-cycle monitoring,
intensified Life Safety Code compliance assessment. The Joint Commission also creates a
“Reporting for Learning” Model which sentinels event database and alerts, states database
legacy, national patient safety goals.
The Joint Commission is an autonomous, non-profit organization in the US which provides
voluntary certification programs for hospitals and other health care centers (Kamarajah, Burns,
Frankel, Cho, & Nathan, 2017).This commission comes up with performance standards which
address critical fundamentals of operation, like consumer rights, medication safety, infection
control, and patient care. It currently accredits about 20,500 health care programs and centers in
the United States (Kagan, Farkash-Fink, & Fish, 2016). In order to keep its Joint Commission
certified status, a health care association is subjected to an onsite assessment conducted by a
Joint Commission survey team at least after every three years. Laboratories also are expected to
undergo assessments after every two years. These surveys are independently designed for

ASSIGNMENT 2 3
various healthcare organizations and they are all tailored to direct and assess the establishment’s
performance in different areas such as patient treatment, safety, and care quality. From 18 -36
months after a complete Joint Commission survey, certified centers can have impromptu surveys.
The Joint Commission benchmarks work as the base for medical facilities to determine and
improve their performances. These benchmarks or standards focus entirely on patient safety and
quality care. The Joint Commission creates the benchmarks criteria based on interactions and
feedback with various stakeholders such as government agencies, consumers, and healthcare
experts. The benchmarks undergo an inclusive development procedure that comprises of
dialogues with consultants, preparation of draft benchmarks and assessments by external
professionals. Potential benchmarks are as well published on the Joint Commission's website and
availed for public remark prior to approval by the association’s board of commissioners.
Which facilities can be accredited?
The Joint Commission certifies the following categories of medical facilities:
 Nursing homes plus other long-term healthcare amenities
 Freestanding or Independent clinical laboratories
 Children’s, general, rehabilitation, psychiatric and critical access centers
 Ambulatory healthcare facilitators, including office-based surgical practices as well as group
practices
 Behavioral care establishments and addiction services
 Homecare associations, such as medical equipment services, pharmacies and sanatorium
services