Joint Commission alters environment standards
In response to concerns of a national health care engineering association, the Oakbrook Terrace, IL-based Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has expanded several definitions regarding environment of care standards. The Chicago-based American Society of Healthcare Engineering pointed out inconsistencies between Joint Commission standards and other national codes, which created confusion for facility managers responsible for compliance with accreditation standards and codes.
Effective immediately, the new definitions read:
• The Joint Commission will no longer require freestanding health care entities classified as business occupancies to complete a statement of conditions.
It will cease surveying these sites for compliance with the National Fire Protection Association Life Safety Code. The Joint Commission, however, will continue to evaluate compliance with its standards on life safety management programs in these sites.
• The Joint Commission will defer to state, local, or other authorities having jurisdiction as to whether an alteration or renovation project constitutes major or minor construction with respect to the requirement for installation of sprinkling systems.
"This will make things much easier for hospitals," says Michelle Pelling, MBA, RN, president of the Portland, OR-based The Propell Group, a health care management consulting company. "This way hospitals don’t have to follow two masters. Now, they can just refer to one set of rules."
In other Joint Commission news, the accreditation organization has opened its World Wide Web site. Internet users can obtain information about accredited health care organizations and how to order performance reports of recently surveyed organizations.
Details on the following are also available: survey eligibility requirements; how to apply for a survey; Joint Commission Standards and survey processes; performance measurement initiatives such as the National Library of Healthcare Indicators; and news releases.
The Web site can be accessed at http://www. jcaho.org.
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