Joint Commission International (JCI) identifies, measures, and shares best practices in quality and patient safety with the world. We provide leadership and innovative solutions to help health care organizations across all settings improve performance and outcomes. Our expert team works with hospitals and other health care organizations, health systems, government ministries, public health agencies, academic institutions, and businesses to achieve peak performance in patient care.

What Is JCI Accreditation?

JCI Founded in 1994 by The Joint Commission, JCI has touched more than 90 countries. Today, the organization helps patients in five continents and fields a well-trained team of international accreditation surveyors and consultants. JCI enjoys a 20 percent annual growth in the number of accredited organizations, just one metric of how we help health care leaders to improve quality, safety, and efficiency as a shared goal.JCI is part of a global enterprise of dynamic, nonprofit organizations that address all dimensions of accreditation, quality care, and patient safety.The oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care in the United States, it evaluates more than 20,000 organizations and inspires them to excel in providing safe and effective care.

Importance of accreditation in hospitals

Accredited hospitals offer higher quality of care to their patients. Accreditation also provides a competitive advantage in the health care industry and strengthens community confidence in the quality and safety of care, treatment, and services. Overall it improves risk management and risk reduction and helps organize and strengthen patient safety efforts and creates a culture of patient safety. Not only does it enhance recruitment and staff education and development, it also assesses all aspects of management and provides education on good practices to improve business operations. International accreditation such as that from the Joint Commission International (JCI), a nonprofit organization that is part of The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations—aka JCAHO or The Joint Commission—and founded in the late 1990s to survey hospitals outside of the United States, creates a mark on the world map and increases business through medical tourism.

The accreditation process

Begin with accreditation process by education: Educate the leaders and the managers and explain the benefits, advantages, process, timeline, etc., of the accreditation

Baseline assessment: Use knowledgeable and credible evaluators (either internal or external consultants) who will critically and objectively assess each area and conduct a detailed baseline assessment of the organization’s current adherence to the standards and each measurable element. Score as “Met,” “Partially Met,” or “Not Met” and cite specific findings and recommendations. Also collect and analyze baseline quality data as required by the quality monitoring standards (e.g., medication errors, hospital-associated infection rates, antibiotic usage, surgical complications, etc.) Establish an ongoing monitoring system for data collection (e.g., monthly, with quarterly data analysis) to identify problem areas and track progress in improvement.

Action planning: Using the findings of the baseline assessment, develop a detailed project plan starting first with priority areas of the core standards. Responsibilities, deliverables, and time frames should be assigned (e.g., revise informed consent policy, develop a new informed consent statement, educate staff in the next two-month time period.)

Chapter assignment: Look for good people skills, time-management skills, and consensus-building skills, and assign oversight of each chapter of standards to a respected champion or leader who will identify team members from throughout the hospital and carry out the process.

Policies and procedures: In addition to an overall project plan, it is often helpful to compile a list of all required policies and procedures that will need development and revision. Continue to monitor your progress in meeting the standards, such as through a mini-evaluation of each chapter at regular intervals (e.g., quarterly).

Final mock survey: Plan for a final “mock survey ” at least four to six months in advance of the target date of the actual accreditation survey. Use evaluators (internal or external consultants) who were not involved in the baseline assessment and preparation, who will look at the organization with a fresh and objective eye. Plan final revisions and corrections based on the findings of the final mock survey.

Final survey

The success of any quality assurance program depends almost entirely on the commitment and interest of the administrators, nurses, paramedical staff, and physicians. Leaders of quality assurance programs must be able to generate interest and commitment without burdening clinical and administrative staff with an activity they neither understand nor believe in. This will help move quality assurance out of its current paralysis in some hospitals. Quality assurance is to succeed in its goal to identify and correct problems and to improve the quality of patient care.

Joint Commission International accredits eight types of health care programs: hospitals, academic medical center hospitals, ambulatory care facilities, clinical laboratories, home care facilities, long term care facilities, medical transport organizations, and primary care centers. Here are more details about some of these accreditation categories.

1.Academic Medical Center

JCI defines an academic medical center hospital as any of the following:

A medical facility that is integrated with a medical school

The principal site for the education of medical students and residents from the medical school

A site that conducts academic and/or commercial clinical research trials

2.Ambulatory Care Facility

JCI defines an ambulatory care facility as any of the following:

Free-standing medical, dental, and surgical facilities

Dialysis facilities

Diagnostic radiology centers

Outpatient chronic care management facilities

Acute care centers

3.Home Care Facility

JCI standards address best practices for care within a patient’s home, including end-of-life care. Measurable elements of performance cover:

All patient-centered care and interactions

Safety of the environment

Staff qualifications and education

4.Long Term Care Facility

JCI long term care standards address quality improvement issues for non-acute settings such as:

Assisted living facilities

Rehabilitation centers

Chronic care facilities

5.Medical Transport Organization

JCI standards address all aspects of emergency and nonemergency transport of patients and apply to public and community-based medical transport organizations associated with hospitals. JCI standards evaluate multiple transport modes including:

Emergency treatment and transport services

Non Emergency transport services

Public and private ambulance services

Air and water medical transport

Fire brigade emergency services

6.Primary Care Center

JCI primary care standards focus on:

Community integration

Health promotion

Disease prevention

First-contact medical services

Linkages to other parts of the health care system

What are the benefits to patients?

A patient who chooses a facility that has received one or more CCPCs can have confidence that the facility has met strict criteria in patient safety, delivery of clinical care, overall patient support, and more.

For example, if you need a breast cancer specialist or a facility that focuses on children’s asthma, a hospital with a CCPC in those clinical areas may be more beneficial to your care.

Currently, JCI offers the following certifications:

Acute Myocardial Infarction (heart-related diseases)

Asthma

Cancer (all types)

Childhood Asthma

Chronic Heart Failure

Chronic Kidney Disease

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

Diabetes Mellitus (types 1 and 2)

End-stage Renal Disease

Heart Failure

HIV/AIDS Management

Joint Replacement (all types)

Osteoarthritis of the Knee

Outpatient Diabetes

Pain Management

Palliative Care (all types)

Primary Stroke

Transplantation (all types)

Traumatic Brain Injury

JCI Mission

The mission of JCI is to improve the safety and quality of care in the international community through the provision of education, publications, consultation, and evaluation services.Our Mediance Consultants Specialists Help You to Guide The JCI Rules and regulations With a safe And Secure manner.