No more JCAHO surveys

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Is anyone working at a facility that no longer worries about accreditation from JCAHO?

They seem to be getting carried away with some of the 2004 stuff. They are concerned about patient care but some of the hoops that we have to jump thru are getting tough.

We had heard that some of the larger hospitals no longer see an advantage to paying them to do the survey. Is there reimbursement issues??

Specializes in Med-Surg, Long Term Care.

I was told it's all about reimbursement. We just finished the JCAHO madness October 2 (got a 92%) and am thankful the hoops are put away for another 3 years! :balloons:

JCAHO will be visiting us in a couple of weeks. We're auditing charts like crazy!

To get Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements (and some private insurances too) a hospital must be accrediated by some organization -- either JCAHO or the state board of health. It's one or the other and most hospitals go for both. And as of 2005 or 2006 those who are JCAHO-approved will no longer get a warning that they appear. No more planned surveys. It's "walk-in, no warning, and you better have your sh*t together or else" survey. So get those lunches out of the med room fridge!!!

Thanks for the info guys. Mine big complaint now is the list of DO NOT USE abbreviations that will be required by the end of the month (probably). I think it is essential that we do away with some abbreviations and hold people accountable. We spent several hours with front line staff and risk management deciding where our problems were r/t abbrev. Now JCAHO has published a list that has several of our "problem abbrev" on it and several that we decided were not a problem here and guarantee that we could not get compliance. They should write the standards and let us decide how to comply. Then measure us accordingly.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Long Term Care.
Originally posted by Gomer

To get Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements (and some private insurances too) a hospital must be accrediated by some organization -- either JCAHO or the state board of health. It's one or the other and most hospitals go for both. And as of 2005 or 2006 those who are JCAHO-approved will no longer get a warning that they appear. No more planned surveys. It's "walk-in, no warning, and you better have your sh*t together or else" survey. So get those lunches out of the med room fridge!!!

Oh crap. You just ruined my day. Unannounced? Will anybody pass? :eek:

The Do Not Use list is a thorn in our flesh too! We have a list based on a JCAHO published list that came out 1 1/2 - 2 years ago. Now they are coming out with a new / different list...

After months of working on policies to address patient identification and surgical site marking, JCAHO has now come out with a Universal Protocol for marking surgical / procedure sites / sides... Back to the policy drawingboard.

(Will it NEVER end?)

Our hospital was surveyed this past August by the Physician surveyor from h***. It was a nightmare. He was arrogant, rude, condescending and worst of all senile. He complained about everything from the chairs in the meeting room to the airline schedule. He alienated EVERYONE and even told a physician to "tke your seat!", but he was the JCAHO Surveyor and we were respectful and kind to him.

We eeked by with a 91% but currently JCAHO is reviewing our appeal of 3 recommendations.

After reading extensively about the JCAHO Process - Shared Vision/New Pathways, I have decided even JCAHO doesn't really know how this new process will work.

Now they have decided to give us 3 options for the Periodic Performance Review (self assessment) that is due mid survey and though the survey will be unannounced, it will be at the 3 year mark, so we know it will be sometime around August 2006.

Several hospital Quality Managers I have talked to agree that JCAHO Accreditation isn't beneficial and they are looking at state accreditation.

I guess it will be a wait and see process.

Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I'd rather deal with JCAHO any day than go through another CMS survey. These are the folks who inspect LTC facilities every year, or even more frequently if there are deficiencies---I've seen F-tags given for minor housekeeping issues, such as dust in a kitchen cabinet that doesn't hold anything, and these call for a correction survey in 60 to 90 days. Then, if they find something ELSE wrong with the facility, they tag that and come back again in another 60 days......and so on. JCAHO is no picnic, but at least we only have to deal with them every three years!

We got gigged for having out of date batteries in a layrngoscope handle and not having an eye wash ststion in PT...

I think most of us do more to "PASS THE TEST" than we do to truly change or provide better patient care. We pass the test and go back to doing exactly what we were the week before.

Yes, I am hot about the abbreviation list....

Specializes in Med-Surg, Long Term Care.
Originally posted by 2rntish

I think most of us do more to "PASS THE TEST" than we do to truly change or provide better patient care. We pass the test and go back to doing exactly what we were the week before.

Yes, I am hot about the abbreviation list....

AMEN about the "PASS THE TEST" mentality. At least our unit is cleaner and better organized than it's ever been in the past 3 years!

And the abbreviation list-- I'm SURE we must've gotten demerits-- or whatever they give you-- for all the MD's writing "cc" rather than ml. Most of the nurses changed to ml, but the docs still write IV orders and others with "cc". Old habits die hard.

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