TJC AND CMS NEWS FOR THE BEHAVIORAL HEALTHCARE INDUSTRY

June 2022

Greetings to Our Colleagues in Behavioral Health! Spring has arrived across the country and Summer is on the horizon! That means vacations for many –a welcome event. At the same time, Joint Commission survey activity has picked up significantly so continuous readiness is more important than ever.   To support those efforts, we’re covering two important topics this month.   Our fist article provides information on TJC’s new requirements in the Rights and Responsibilities chapter of both the Hospital and Behavioral Health Care standards.   Our second article provides a recap of TJC’s data collection requirements in the Performance Improvement chapter – a high focus area in 2022 surveys.  We value your feedback on the newsletter. Please send us your comments and tell us what topics you'd like to see in future issues. We look forward to hearing from you! Also, feel free to forward this newsletter to your colleagues. Stay safe and healthy! Anne Barrins President/CEO

In This Issue: Joint Commission Rights Standards: New Requirements Joint Commission PI Standards: Data Collection Requirements New Clients Tip of the Month

JOINT COMMISSION RIGHTS STANDARDS: NEW REQUIREMENTS Heads up! The Joint Commission Rights standards have new requirements effective July 1, 2022. These new requirements are in both the Hospital and Behavioral Health Care & Human Services standards. So, they apply to both psychiatric hospitals and any programs TJC surveys under the Behavioral Health Care & Human Services standards. Joint Commission Rights Standards: What are the Changes? The first change relates to informed consent (RI.01.03.01 EP 1.) Specifically, you must now define in your policy who can conduct the informed consent discussion with patients. First point: It must be a licensed practitioner. Second, the designation of that LIP must be consistent with applicable law and regulation in your state. Along the same lines, your written policy must ... Continue Reading > JOINT COMMISSION PI STANDARDS: DATA COLLECTION REQUIREMENTS Recently, we covered the new Joint Commission PI requirements effective January 2022. We’re now seeing a clear uptick in the amount of attention surveyors are paying to this topic. Moreover, they’re issuing Requirements for Improvement in their survey reports. While there are some new PI requirements in 2022, many remain the same. Thus, it’s important to fully understand TJC’s expectations for data collection and how you use that data. So, here’s a recap of ... Continue Reading > NEW CLIENTS Barrins & Associates is pleased to welcome our new client Idaho State Hospital North located in Orofino, Idaho. State Hospital North is part of the Idaho Dept. of Health & Welfare and provides inpatient psychiatric treatment for adults. State Hospital North will be seeking initial Joint Commission accreditation and we’re pleased to support them in achieving that goal.   Learn More About Our New Clients >

TJC Quickly Catching Up TJC is quickly catching up on overdue surveys. Virtual surveys in the BH program are winding down and being replaced by onsite surveys. Thus, survey readiness is more important then ever. Contact us now to schedule your mock survey and be prepared whenever your next survey occurs.  1-877-546-7206 TIP OF THE MONTH The new TJC COVID staff vaccination requirements are effective July 1st. See our recent post on this topic and get all the details so you’re survey-ready.  Why Choose Barrins & Associates? “Our Barrins & Associates Life Safety consultant provided great feedback and suggestions during our mock survey. He also provided resources and templates to go along with his findings. He was very approachable which made it easy to ask questions and take advantage of his expertise. The whole experience was extremely helpful for us.” Angie Scott, LPC, CPHQ CEO Ridgeview Institute - Monroe Monroe, Georgia  Read More Testimonials >

Barrins & Associates provides Joint Commission and CMS consulting services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Our clients include psychiatric hospitals, psychiatric services within med/surg hospitals, and freestanding Behavioral Healthcare organizations. We specialize in providing Survey Preparation and Continuous Survey Readiness services for the Behavioral Healthcare industry. Barrins & Associates was founded by Anne Barrins who was a Joint Commission surveyor for 13 years.

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