The Joint Commission has updated guidelines for emergency management and ambulatory care, which will become effective July 1.
It has fully rewritten its chapter on emergency management, which also cut 40% of the elements of performance by which it used to previously measure success in emergency management care. The Joint Commission notes it has also removed "redundant requirements" related to office-based surgery standards.
"The goal of the rewrite was to help health care organizations to develop more comprehensive EM programs and to better prepare for the health, safety, and security needs of their facilities, staff, patient populations, and communities during emergencies or disasters (such as the COVID-19 pandemic)," it wrote in a Jan. 24 news release on the revisions.
Additional elements of hazard vulnerability analysis, leadership involvement, and staff education and training were also added to the chapter.
Full explanation of each new requirement and the in-depth revisions were compiled as part of a comprehensive report.