Joint Commission’s New Draft Standards for Culturally Competent Patient Care Will Take Effect In 2011.

The Joint Commission is proposing accreditation requirements to help hospitals better address effective communication, cultural competence, and patient-centered care. Although many aspects of these issues are currently supported by existing requirements, the proposed requirements have the potential to further improve the safety and quality of care for all patients. At the earliest, any implementation of the proposed requirements would occur in January 2011.

To download a copy of the new draft standards, click on the following link: Proposed Requirements to Advance Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-Centered Care for the Hospital Accreditation Program

The standards development initiative builds upon The Joint Commission’s ongoing study on Hospitals Language and Culture: A Snapshot of the Nation. That study examined how hospitals in the United States respond to the diverse cultural and language needs of their patients. It found that practices used to promote effective communication and cultural competence vary widely from hospital to hospital. To download a copy of JCACHO’s 2007 report entitled 60 Hospitals: A Snapshot of the Nation, follow this link: http://www.jointcommission.org/PatientSafety/HLC/hlc_research_projects.htm

The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations began requiring hospitals to collect data on patients’ primary oral and preferred written language in 2006. In a recent report, JCAHCO has clearly signaled that it is moving closer to requiring that all hospitals collect patient race and ethnicity data as well. To download a copy of JCACHO’s 2008 follow-up report entitled: One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting the Healthcare Needs of Diverse Populations, click here: One Size Does Not Fit All.

The Joint Commission’s new hospital standards initiative will explore how diversity, culture, language, and health literacy issues can be better incorporated into current Joint Commission standards or drafted into new requirements. The Joint Commission will collaborate with The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) to develop an implementation guide to prepare Joint Commission surveyors and accredited hospitals for the release of the new standards which are expected to take effect in 2011.

Cross-Cultural Health Care

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