What is the Joint Commission?

The stated mission of The Joint Commission is: "To continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value"

The company updates its accreditation standards and expands patient safety goals on a yearly basis, and posts them on its Web site for all interested persons to review, making this information and process transparent to all stakeholders ranging from institutions, to practitioners, to patients and their advocates.

The purpose of The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals is to promote specific improvements in patient safety. The Goals highlight problematic areas in health care and describe evidence and expert-based solutions to these problems. Recognizing that sound system design is intrinsic to the delivery of safe, high quality health care, the Goals focus on system-wide solutions, wherever possible. The NPSGs have become a critical method by which The Joint Commission promotes and enforces major changes in patient safety in thousands of participating health care organizations in the United States and around the world. The 2009 NPSGs include new regulations targeting the spread of infection due to multidrug-resistant organisms, catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSI), and surgical site infections (SSI). The new regulations for CRBSI and SSI prevention apply not only to hospitals, but also to ambulatory care and ambulatory surgery centers. Engaging patients in patient safety efforts is also a major new component of the NPSGs. The Universal Protocol to reduce surgical errors and existing regulations on medication reconciliation have also been modified for 2009, based on feedback received by The Joint Commission.