The evolving role of the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, in collaboration with health professionals and others, is pursuing a process for assessing health care organizations that incorporates contemporary approaches to evaluating health care quality, while stimulating organizations to meet or exceed standards through recommendations for improvement and through education and consultation. To reach this goal, the Commission is currently evaluating various measurement systems that can be combined with a standards-based survey to accredit health care organizations. The Orion Project, an additional initiative of the Joint Commission, is concurrently striving to create a continuous accreditation process at the local level that supports a health care organization's efforts to improve its performance.