More than 700 requirements eliminated as new model aims to reduce burden, align with real-world care, and improve patient outcomes.
The Joint Commission has launched a new accreditation framework—Accreditation 360: The New Standard—designed to simplify compliance, reduce regulatory burden, and place greater emphasis on measurable outcomes.
The initiative marks the organization’s most significant overhaul since 1965, consolidating standards, eliminating more than 700 requirements, and introducing tools for continuous engagement and benchmarking.
“Healthcare organizations today are navigating historic complexity, and the pressures are enormous,” says Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, president and CEO of Joint Commission, in a release. “Healthcare is also changing, and Joint Commission must change, too. Accreditation 360 directly responds to what this moment demands. Designed by a team of operationally experienced healthcare leaders, this new model removes standards whose time has passed, and we are introducing a suite of novel tools for benchmarking and performance support.”
Specifically, Accreditation 360 introduces:
- Simplified Accreditation Process: To make accreditation smarter, lighter, and more aligned with how care is delivered today, two new products will be available to healthcare organizations:
- An updated Accreditation Manual that more clearly identifies Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services-directed Conditions of Participation, while the remaining requirements and National Patient Safety Goals are being merged into Joint Commission National Performance Goals (NPGs).
- A Continuous Engagement Model option that offers the opportunity for ongoing support designed to drive successful safety and quality practices and perpetual survey readiness.
- Reduction in Requirements: Building on the reduction of 400 requirements announced in 2023, Joint Commission is removing an additional 714 requirements from the hospital accreditation program. And, in a move toward greater transparency, starting in July, Joint Commission standards will be available online and will be searchable by the public.
- Streamlined Patient Safety Practices: Joint Commission has organized and simplified its accreditation requirements into 14 NPGs, covering critical areas to prevent patient harm, improve outcomes, and create a safer environment for all.
- Certifications Focused on Outcome Measures: To shift the focus from observation of structure and process to outcome measures, The National Quality Forum, an affiliate of Joint Commission, is introducing a next-generation certification program, starting with four key areas prioritized by patients, clinicians, health systems, payers, and purchasers: maternity care; hip and knee procedural care; spine procedural care; and cardiovascular procedural care.
- Broadened Resources: Joint Commission is introducing the Survey Analysis For Evaluating STrengths (SAFEST) Program to recognize leading practices at accredited organizations and to support the dissemination of safety and quality improvement insight. This will ultimately evolve into a database of leading practices where surveyors can access organizations’ performance strengths for industry-wide collaborative learning, according to Joint Commission.
“Accreditation is about both upholding the public trust in safety and supporting healthcare organizations in driving their quality agenda,” says Perlin in a release. “Our new leadership team is comprised of clinicians and healthcare executives who have been on the other side of accreditation surveys. We believe the accreditation process can and should also be about supporting, troubleshooting, and best-practice sharing—and Accreditation 360 reflects that. Healthcare leaders across the country contributed to the design of this new model, and we are proud to bring it forward.”
Hospital and healthcare accreditation has long played a critical role in supporting patient safety. In its earliest iterations, accreditation aimed to set a minimum standard of care for healthcare organizations to follow—and now, more prominently, sets standards for high-quality patient care and enhancing public trust.
“In today’s complex healthcare environment, accreditation must not only ensure safety and quality but also support the realities of how care is delivered across diverse organizations and geographies,” says Laura S. Kaiser, FACHE, president and CEO, SSM Health, in a release. “With Accreditation 360, Joint Commission is responding to what health systems like ours have long needed—timely, practical support that aligns with how care is delivered today. This new model reflects a deep understanding of the pressures we face and offers a more collaborative, outcomes-focused approach to accreditation that helps us better serve our patients and communities.”
