Regulatory Agency Regulatory agencies ensure health care practitioners and facilities promote safety, legal compliance, and quality patient services. If health care were not regulated of if accreditation were not required patients would not have a sense of comfort and safety. The regulatory agency the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations commonly known as JCAHO, which “conducts periodic on-site surveys to verify that an accredited organization substantially complies with Joint Commission standards and continuously makes efforts to improve the care and services it provides” (The Joint Commission, 2010, p. 3). The JCAHO ensures that health care providers and facilities are maintaining the required standards of care in place by the regulatory agency. JCAHO is constantly improving the quality and safety of care provided in any health care facility.
History of the Joint Commission of Health Care Organizations In 1910, Ernest A. Codman, M.D., found that many health care practitioners were practicing medicine that was outside their scope of training. It was then that he “proposed the end result system of hospital standardization. Codman thought that if hospitals were to track every patient and the patient were treated long enough it could be determined whether the treatment was effective and use the results to improve care” (2010, A Circular Century, p. 26). In 1913, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) was established and by 1917, the ACS develops the Minimum Standard for Hospitals. In 1918, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) began the first inspection of hospitals and found that only 89 out of 692 hospitals met the minimum standard requirements. In 1951, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals was established as an independent non-profit organization with the purpose of voluntary accrediting hospitals (The Joint Commission, 2010). The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals has matured since 1951 to become the leading provider or accrediting health care organizations. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals mission statement is “"To continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of healthcare accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations" (Withrow, 2003, p. 1). In 1965, Congress passes the Social Security Amendment giving hospitals that are accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals would be found to be in compliance with the majority of Medicare’s conditions and would be eligible to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs (The Joint Commission, 2010). From 1966 and onward accreditations was expanded to include long term care, home health care, services for the mentally retarded and disabled persons, psychiatric facilities, and managed care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals expanded their accreditation to other facilities the organization decided to change their name to the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission continues to ensure that all health care organizations are operating at the required level ensuring that quality and safe health care is provided to all patients (The Joint Commission, 2010).
The Source and Scope of the Joint Commission’s Authority