Bridging the Gap Between Joint Commission Accreditation and High-Quality Behavioral Health Care: Reflections on a...

Joint Commission accreditation helps ensure hospital safety and quality. Accreditation also serves as an independent monitor for payers, the public, and other stakeholders. Evidence-based practices necessarily evolve, and ensuring high-quality care requires an ongoing review of which metrics to prioritize. The Joint Commission has recently introduced new voluntary health care equity certification while acknowledging a need to reduce and eliminate unnecessary requirements. In this Open Forum, an inpatient psychiatrist and administrator reflects on the accreditation survey experience and suggests more closely aligning the reimbursement and reputational incentives associated with accreditation with effective, evidence-based interventions.