A hospital's accreditation status is licensed from The Joint Commission and is updated on a quarterly basis.
The reporting of information from The Joint Commission on this website does not not constitute an endorsement of American Hospital Directory or its activities by The Joint Commission. The information being reported is publicly available through The Joint Commission. The database is provided by The Joint Commission "as is" and without any representations or warranties of any kind. The Joint Commission disclaims all warranties of any kind, expressed or implied with respect to the database or site, including, but not limited to, the warranties of satisfactory quality and fitness for a particular purpose. The Joint Commission does not represent or guarantee the accuracy or timeliness of the database.
The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits health care organizations and programs in the United States. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. Since 1951, The Joint Commission has maintained state-of-the-art standards that focus on improving the quality and safety of care provided by health care organizations. The Joint Commission's comprehensive accreditation process evaluates an organization's compliance with these standards and other accreditation requirements. Joint Commission accreditation is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization's commitment to meeting certain performance standards. A hospital must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years.
There are four levels of accreditation:
- accreditation with full standards compliance
- conditional accreditation
- provisional accreditation
- preliminary denial of accreditation
The accreditation status reported is the current level of accreditation and the date it became effective. Follow-up activities that occur after a hospital's full survey may result in a change in the accreditation level:
- Organizations that are accredited with Type I recommendations for improvement are required to bring the cited areas into compliance with the standards within specified time frames.
- Each year, 5 percent of all organizations are selected for random, unannounced surveys of standards or areas identified as being problematic for a large percentage of institutions. These random, unannounced surveys take place 9 to 30 months following the triennial full survey.
- The Joint Commission conducts for-cause unannounced surveys in response to serious incidents relating to the health and/or safety of patients or staff, or reported complaints. The outcomes of these type of activities may affect the current accreditation status of an organization.