In a statement, the Joint Commission said it is “painfully aware of the shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators, and swab kits at hospitals and other healthcare organizations across the nation amid the COVID-19 pandemic.” 

Moreover, the organization said it is taking “every step possible” to help its accredited healthcare organizations during the pandemic. “We recognize the utmost importance of PPE to protect healthcare professionals and patients from being infected and infecting others,” the Joint Commission added. “Many of our employees are also frontline healthcare workers.”

In the statement, the Joint Commission said it strongly supports emergency efforts at the federal level to drastically increase the production and distribution of PPE and other necessary medical equipment and supplies. The agency also supports the availability of telehealth services during this time to use less PPE while preventing the spread of infection.

“We continue to participate in daily briefings with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and in ongoing calls with the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Coordinating Council (recognized by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] as the critical infrastructure partner with the government). We also have worked with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to provide it with survey questions for the collection of timely data on hospital challenges,” the Joint Commission said in a statement.