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About the Joint Commission on Accreditation:

Founded in 1951, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including approximately 9,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and 8,000 other health care organizations that provide long term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. An independent, not for profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

Facts:

JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) accreditation is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a JCAHO survey team at least every three years.

JCAHO is governed by a 29-member Board of Commissioners that includes nurses, physicians, consumers, medical directors, administrators, providers, employers, a labor representative, health plan leaders, quality experts, ethicists, a health insurance administrator and educators. The Board of Commissioners brings to JCAHO countless years of diverse experience in health care, business and public policy. JCAHO's corporate members are the American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine, the American College of Surgeons, the American Dental Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association.

JCAHO's standards address the organization's level of performance in key functional areas, such as patient's rights, patient treatment, and infection control, and the standards focus not simply on an organization's ability to provide safe, high quality care, but on its actual performance as well. Standards set forth performance expectations for activities that affect the safety and quality of patient care. If an organization does the right things and does them well, there is a strong likelihood that its patient will experience good outcomes. JCAHO develops its standards in consultation with health care experts, providers, measurement experts, purchasers and consumers.

Mission of JCAHO: To continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in health care organizations.