The mission of the Joint Commission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of health care accredidtation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations.
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more than 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accreditation body in health care. Since 1951, the Joint Commission has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. The Joint Commission's comprehensive accreditation process evaluates an organization's compliance with these standards and other accreditation requirements.
The Joint Commission's evaluation and accreditation services are provided for the following types of organizations:
- General, psychiatric, children's and rehabilitation hospitals, and critical access hospitals
- Medical equipment services, hospice services and other home care organizations
- Nursing homes and other long term care facilities
- Behavioral health care organizations and addiction services
- Rehabilitation centers, group practices, office-based surgeries and other ambulatory care providers
- Independent or freestanding laboratories
The Joint Commission 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 the Joint Commission countless years of diverse experience in health care, business and public policy. The Joint Commission's corporate members are the American College of Physicians, the American College of Surgeons, the American Dental Association, the American Hospital Association and the American Medical Association. The Joint Commission employs more than 1,000 people in its surveyor force at its central office in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois and at a satellite office in Washington, DC.
In October 2002, all five expansion sites along with HSI's existing centers underwent the Joint Commission's accreditation survey. HSI board and staff committed early in the takeover process to bring the centers up to HSI standards of care. Notwithstanding the risk of HSI accreditation status, significant effort was made to prepare the five expansion sites for the survey. The survey result of 94 underscores HSI's long-term commitment to the comunities in the targeted service area. All five expansion sites are now fully JCAHO accredited and provide a higher level of quality care to area residents.
As an accredited organization, Health Services, Inc. is required by JACAHO to provide our service area this "Continuous Public Involvement" Accreditation Participation Requirement (Previously referred to as the Public Information Notice)
The organization provides notices to the public that when an individual has any concerns about patient care and safery in the organization, he or she is encouraged to contact the organization's management. If the concerns in question cannot be resolved at this level, the individual is to be encouraged by the organization to contact the Joint Commission.
For more information about the Joint Commission and its standards for ambulatory care visit their website at www.jointcommission.org. The Joint Commission website includes an extensive directory. The general phone number is (630) 792-5000 and the Customer Service number is (877) 223-6866.