News and Updates

Joint Commission Releases 2009 Patient Safety Goals

(July 1, 2008)

The Joint Commission has released its 2009 National Patient Safety Goals and related requirements for each of its accreditation programs. The goals promote specific improvements in patient safety by providing health care organizations with proven solutions to persistent patient safety problems. They apply to the more than 15,000 Joint Commission-accredited and -certified health care organizations and programs.

Several additions build on an existing National Patient Safety Goal to reduce the risk of health care-associated infections, and recognize that patients continue to acquire preventable infections at an alarming rate within hospitals. New requirements related to central line-associated bloodstream infections will take effect for home care organizations as well as other settings, including ambulatory care facilities, office-based surgery practices, and long-term care organizations. These new infection-related requirements have a one-year phase-in period that includes defined milestones, with full implementation expected by January 1, 2010.

A revision of the requirements for the existing medication reconciliation Goal is based on feedback obtained from a Medication Reconciliation Summit convened in late 2007 and is included in the 2009 update. New requirements for several programs focus on engaging patients in their care regarding infection control, prevention of surgical adverse events, and the patient identification process.

Goals for the home care program include improvements emanating from the Standards Improvement Initiative, including the new numbering system and minor language changes for consistency.

“The 2009 National Patient Safety Goals represent ongoing opportunities for improvement that can immediately benefit patients,” says Joint Commission President Mark R. Chassin, M.D., M.P.P., M.P.H. “By taking action to consistently meet the Goals, health care organizations can substantially improve patient safety in America.”

Click here to see the National Patient Safety Goals by program.