The Joint Commission International (JCI) is a non-profit international accreditation organization based in the United States.
It’s dedicated to certifying healthcare entities like hospitals and clinics, services, and programs focused on patient safety and quality of care.
The JCI standards have gained the global recognition as a leading accreditation program for hospitals (healthcare organizations).
Apart from establishing best practices in patient safety and quality, JCI also introduces innovative solutions to enhance performance and outcomes across various healthcare organizations.
The accredited healthcare programs encompass a range of entities, including:
✓ Hospitals
✓ Clinical labs
✓ Academic medical center hospitals
✓ Ambulatory care facilities
✓ Home care facilities
✓ Long-term care facilities
✓ Medical transport organizations
✓ Primary care centers
JCI holds accreditation from the International Society for Quality in Health Care External Evaluation Association (IEEA). This accreditation provides assurance that all the JCI standards, processes, and training align with the highest international benchmarks for accreditation bodies.
What is the objective of Joint Commission International (JCI)?
The primary objective of JCI is to uphold and enhance safety and healthcare quality globally.
It achieves this through education, international accreditation, advisory services, and certifications, including adherence to International Patient Safety Goals (IPSGs).
Established by the Joint Commission in 1994, JCI has granted its Gold Seal of Approval to over 1,000 health organizations. This seal is widely recognized as a symbol of quality patient care and safety on a global scale.
In this article, you will find us talking about –
✓ JCI accreditation process & outline
✓ JCI accreditation benefits
Why your hospital should get Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation?
The accreditation seal provides numerous advantages to the organization:
It demonstrates the competence and dedication of healthcare providers to deliver their services at the highest standards.
✓ Increase Credibility of your hospital among patients: It fosters trust among patients for the organization by assuring healthcare standards, encompassing medical services, patient safety, and overall care.
✓ Satisfying regulatory obligation: Meeting JCI standards means that your hospital is already compliant and indicates that it might not need and further surveys or audits.
✓ Builds reputation of the hospital: Besides bolstering the healthcare organization’s reputation with its patients, it distinguishes them in the market, setting them apart from competitors.
✓ Builds trust among different organizations: Accredited organizations earn respect from fellow businesses, service providers, insurance companies, and government ministries.
✓ Enhance quality of services: Organizations can assess, measure, and enhance the quality of their services.
✓ Strengthen staff recruitment: Certification aids in recruiting highly skilled clinical staff, addressing public health demands.
✓ Enhance, structure, and standardize processes: Implementing standards helps organizations enhance, structure, and standardize various clinical processes, such as admission, patient care planning, assessment, and facility management.
✓ Get competitive edge: The joint commission international accreditation standards for hospitals provide competitive edge to get more business via marketing
Benefits of joint commission international accreditation standards for patients
The JCI’s Clinical Care Program Certification (CCPC) underscores an organization’s dedication to delivering high-quality clinical care in a specific area of expertise, whether it involves a disease or medical services.
At present, JCI offers CCPC in various clinical areas:
⦿ Acute Myocardial Infarction (heart-related diseases)
⦿ Cancer (all types)
⦿ Chronic Kidney Disease
⦿ Diabetes Mellitus (types 1 and 2)
⦿ HIV/AIDS Management
⦿ Outpatient Diabetes
⦿ Transplantation (all types)
⦿ Traumatic Brain Injury, among others.
The benefits of Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation for patients:
⦿ Building trust among patients: Patients can trust that a CCPC-certified service meets all standards, ensuring quality patient care, safety, and comprehensive support.
⦿ Continuous & consistent improvement: Certification facilitates ongoing improvement, leading to better, more consistent, and safer healthcare delivery.
⦿ Builds credibility: Accreditation lends credibility and validation to organizations in the eyes of the external world.
Benefits of joint commission international accreditation standards for patients
Hospitals that wish to achieve Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation must follow a thorough and systematic approach.
Before you start going through these steps, we highly recommend that you check the eligibility of your hospital in official JCI accreditation eligibility requirements document.
Here is a step-by-step guide on how hospitals can obtain JCI accreditation:
Step 1: Evaluate Readiness
We highly recommend that you conduct an initial assessment to evaluate the readiness of a hospital for JCI accreditation.
This evaluation process involves reviewing –
- Existing policies
- Existing procedures
- Existing practices against JCI standards
Each of these aspects will help you prepare for assessment process of Joint Commission International (JCI).
Step 2: Leadership Commitment Towards the JCI Accreditation Process
Secure commitment from top leadership to support and drive the accreditation process can help your hospital get closer to your JCI accreditation.
Involvement of your organization’s (hospital or clinics) leadership can establish a culture of quality improvement.
Step 3: Staff Training
Another vital step for hospitals to take when aiming for JCI accreditation is to educate and train staff at all levels on JCI standards and requirements.
Staff training includes ongoing training sessions to ensure staff members are well-informed and capable of implementing necessary changes when and if required.
At Elexes, we can help you with staff training. We always recommend hospitals and clinics to follow a systematic training approach.
Luckily, we at Elexes have experts who can associate with your team and staff to improve their knowledge of JCI standard requirements.
Step 4: Gap Analysis
At Elexes, we always emphasize on periodically performing a thorough gap analysis to identify areas where the hospital may fall short of JCI standards. The outcomes of this analysis will help you develop a roadmap for addressing deficiencies and making improvements. This step is vital if you wish to avoid any hinderance in getting JCI accreditation.
Step 5: Quality Improvement Initiatives
Quality improvement initiative is the step where gap analysis will play a crucial role. Your hospital or clinic (healthcare organization) must implement quality improvement initiatives based on the findings (results) of the gap analysis.
Quality improvement may involve:
⦿ Updating policies
⦿ Enhancing patient safety protocols
⦿ Improving overall healthcare delivery processes
Step 6: Documentation Preparation
If your healthcare organization needs the Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation, you should prepare a comprehensive documentation demonstrating compliance with JCI standards.
This documentation will be submitted as part of the accreditation application. Our experts at Elexes can help you prepare a fully compliant documentation for your hospitals.
Step 7: Application Submission
When it comes to JCI accreditation, every hospital or clinic is required to submit the formal application, including all the required documentation.
It is vital that you ensure that the application you submit reflects the hospital’s commitment to delivering high-quality care and maintaining patient safety. If you need assistance with your application, all you have to do is reach out to our experts. We will take it up and make sure your application is successfully submitted with all the right and required documents.
Step 8: Mock Survey
If you wish your hospital to be accredited under JCI, we highly recommend you conduct a mock survey or internal audit to simulate the actual JCI survey process.
Mock surveys help identify any remaining gaps and allow staff to practice interactions with surveyors, ensuring that you meet all the requirements.
We at Elexes can help you conduct mock survey and see if there are any additional gaps or changes required.
Step 9: On-Site Survey Preparation
Preparing for the on-site survey conducted by JCI surveyors is a wise choice to make for any hospital or clinic that wishes to be JCI accredited.
During the survey, it is mandatory for hospitals to demonstrate adherence to JCI standards, showcase quality improvement initiatives, and provide evidence of ongoing compliance.
This is why we always make sure that hospitals have it all prepared.
Step 10: Address Survey Findings
After the on-site survey, carefully review any findings or recommendations provided by the surveyors. Take prompt action to address and resolve any identified issues.
Addressing survey findings will ensure you are serious to get the accreditation.
Quick Tip: We highly recommend you take all the notes of what surveyors are saying during the survey so that there is nothing that you miss.
Step 11: Accreditation Decision
Await the accreditation decision from JCI. If successful, the hospital will receive JCI accreditation, signifying its commitment to high standards of patient care and safety.
Step 12: Continuous Improvement
We always recommend hospitals and clinics to embrace a culture of continuous improvement. You can do that by –
⦿ Regularly assessing the processes
⦿ Seeking feedback
⦿ Making adjustments to ensure ongoing compliance with JCI standards.
Bottom Line
JCI Accreditation does bring in a lot of benefits and is worth pursuing. Hospitals can also benefit from engaging JCI consultants. At Elexes, we have the best experts who can help your hospital get JCI accreditation.
Our experts will not only help you be prepared for the survey but will also conduct thorough gap analysis, suggest all the changes that hospitals and clinics are required to make, and help by preparing all the required documents for JCI accreditation application submission. We will ensure you get the certification timely and in the most efficient manner.
