Joint Commission makes health equity national patient safety goal

The Joint Commission announced it is elevating its health equity standard to a national patient safety goal, effective July 1. The standard will apply to all critical access hospitals and hospitals, as well as some ambulatory care organizations and behavioral health care and human service organizations. The commission will require accredited health care organizations to identify an individual to lead activities to improve health equity; assess patients’ health-related social needs; and analyze quality and safety data to identify disparities. They also will need to develop an action plan to improve health equity, take steps when they fail to meet the goals in their action plans and inform key stakeholders about progress to improve health equity. (Joint Commission news release, 1/10/23)