Joint Commission Releases Roadmap for Hospital Communications Standards - August 11, 2010

The Joint Commission, in collaboration with the National Health Law Program and with funding from The Commonwealth Fund, has developed a new monograph entitled “Advancing Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient- and Family-Centered Care: A Roadmap for Hospitals.” Among other recommendations and tools, the Roadmap includes example practices and “how to” information to help hospitals comply with Joint Commission requirements, in particular the new standards for patient-centered communication. These standards were approved in December 2009 and will be published in the 2011 accreditation manual. The Joint Commission will begin evaluating compliance with these standards in January 2011. However, findings will not affect the accreditation decision until a later date, currently targeted for January 2012. The Roadmap is available online.