The Joint Commission shares top challenges

The Joint Commission shares top challenges

Each year, The Joint Commission collects data on organizations’ compliance with standards, National Patient Safety Goals, and accreditation and certification participation requirements to identify trends and focus education on challenging requirements. Through its tracking, The Joint Commission has identified the top five most challenging requirements within each of its accreditation programs by looking at the elements of performance most frequently identified as “not compliant” during surveys and reviews from Jan. 1 through Dec. 31, 2022. Many of the most challenging requirements include physical environment aspects, such as managing ligature risks and ventilation systems. 

HHS resource shares renewable energy funding

The Office of Climate Change and Health Equity (OCCHE) under the Department of Health & Human Services has released a resource called the Quickfinder for Leveraging the Inflation Reduction Act for the Health Sector. The Quickfinder is meant to help health care stakeholders take advantage of the opportunities for resilience and emissions reduction included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). It provides background on the IRA and an overview of the potential investments and actions that the IRA can help to facilitate at health care organizations. It also lists relevant IRA programs for the health sector, including tax incentives and direct pay provisions. The Quickfinder will be updated as needed to reflect new announcements and additional relevant programs. 

FGI Guidelines commenting period closing soon

The proposal period for the 2026 Facility Guidelines Institute’s (FGI’s) Guidelines documents revision cycle ends June 30. The proposal period is the public’s only opportunity to recommend changes to the 2022 Guidelines to be included in the 2026 editions. Examples of suggestions include changing language to improve clarity, removing outdated requirements or adding new types of facilities in the documents. Proposals should support clinical practices, infection prevention measures and minimum design requirements for additional and evolving care spaces to advance safe and effective patient and resident health care. The proposal period is open to all users of the Guidelines documents, and all submitted proposals will be available for public review.

HHS report assesses hospitals’ cyber resiliency

The Healthcare Sector Coordinating Council (HSCC) and Department of Health & Human Services released a report benchmarking best practices and opportunities for improvement in hospital cyber resiliency. The American Hospital Association contributed to the report, which assesses hospitals’ current cybersecurity capabilities and readiness and may inform future federal policy decisions on how to improve cyber resiliency. The study’s two objectives were to develop a clear understanding of the current cybersecurity capabilities and preparedness across participating U.S. hospitals, as well as their ability to combat cyber threats; and to share the analysis and findings with the HSCC Cybersecurity Working Group for consideration as one of several inputs for informing prioritized cybersecurity practices.