A Physician’s Take on Equity, Sustainability and Improvement
Interview of Joint Commission CEO Jonathon Perlin
CHICAGO MEDICINE: Can you describe the current state of The Joint Commission since you became the organization’s leader in March 2022? Describe one area of focus in detail?
Dr. Perlin: The Joint Commission is a venerable organization, started by physician leadership organizations and the American Hospital Association nearly 75 years ago. Today, we continue to bring a strong clinician voice to advocacy for safe, effective, efficient, equitable and compassionate care in the United States and 76 countries.
Domestically, The Joint Commission is, of course, known as the intermediary between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and healthcare organizations. In that regard, our mandate has an accountability function. The Joint Commission, however, focuses the clinical voice on safety and quality through additional standards.
My early focus has been on the HELP agenda:
-
Healthcare Equity
-
Environmental Sustainability
-
Learning Healthcare
Performance Improvement
We have made positive strides in each focus area. In Learning Healthcare, we are committed to assuring the standards that originate from The Joint Commission are evidence-based, data-driven and outcomes oriented. We have retired more than 400 obsolete, non-evidence based, redundant standards and measures whose burden exceeds benefit. This streamlines processes for our accredited healthcare organizations and reduces burden on clinician’s whose priority is patient care.
Chicago Medicine: Before you continue with the other focuses, can you give an example of an obsolete standard you had that physicians would understand?
Document Actions