If you’re in the healthcare industry, chances are you’re on your feet almost every second of your workday. Getting patients taken care of effectively and efficiently are your number-one priorities. But no matter how busy you are and how many hats you’re expected to wear on a daily basis, there’s just no escaping two words that you know are always looming in the background: Joint Commission.
Joint Commission accreditation is considered among people in the medical industry to be the crème de la crème of standards compliance. It evaluates hospitals on the level of care and service they’re delivering to their patients, and is the ultimate compliance goal within many healthcare facilities. Armed with Joint Commission accreditation, medical facilities can receive Medicare/Medicaid certification and be authorized for reimbursement – not to mention the credibility that comes with being Joint Commission accredited, which means more patients will trust the accredited medical center, and that the center will become that much more successful through word of mouth and otherwise.
But like everything in life worth having, achieving Joint Commission accreditation is quite the challenge. Joint Commission evaluations are not scheduled – they come unannounced, which, understandably, is not ideal for the busy healthcare culture. Hospital staff members must present specific documentation related to evaluations immediately, which can be quite the hassle with something like a paper policy system or an intranet system managed by someone outside of the department(s) being evaluated.
Compliance management software could very well be the answer. With a sound set of medical management software, hospital staff could save time, money, and stress by enjoying the following features with a few clicks of a mouse:
- the ability to share electronic policies among staff members across departments, regardless of intranet capabilities
- an electronic signature feature to track and file compliance adherence automatically
- approval processes to run the right policies by the right people before distribution
- a regular review process to ensure policies are 100% up to date
- online courses, to certify many staff members at once
- at-your-fingertips staff assessments, which guarantee your staff not only signed off on a policy, but remember what they read and are able to use the knowledge effectively
- satisfaction surveys to ensure your employees are able to share honest feedback
Jen Juneau graduated in 2007 with a bachelor’s in technical communication and a minor in magazine journalism, as she enjoys both instructional and creative/editorial writing (and often at the same time). She has worked professionally on a variety of both types of content for almost five years, and appreciates the tools the English language gives her to create succinct-yet-engaging information. She believes effective communication is the only grease most conflict wheels are really missing.
