Briefly Noted

• The Board of Commissioners of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO; Oakbrook Terrace, IL) recently acted to eliminate Accreditation with Commendation as an official decision category, effective Jan. 1. The award was introduced in 1991 to recognize exemplary performance in accredited organizations at a time when performance reports were not available, JCAHO said. But those performance reports now provide up-to-date, understandable information about the performance of all healthcare organizations accredited by JCAHO, the organization said. In addition, recent experience had suggested that the award was leading organizations to place undue pressure on their senior management staff to achieve Accreditation with Commendation. JCAHO said the Department of Health and Human Services’ (Washington) Office of Inspector General suggested earlier in the year that the decision category be made more meaningful or be done away with.