Joint Commission: New APRs on Focused Standards Assessment

The new Accreditation Participation Requirements on the Focused Standards Assessment (FSA), the new name of the improved Periodic Performance Review (PPR), are now available on The Joint Commission website. The requirements will become effective January 1, 2012 for the ambulatory care, behavioral health care, home care, hospital, laboratory services and long term care programs. The new name more appropriately reflects an emphasis on an organization’s assessment combined with The Joint Commission’s knowledge of high risk areas that are critical to patient safety and quality. The FSA is part of a broad initiative called the Intracycle Monitoring (IM) process which, when complete, will focus on activities to help identify risk points in health care organizations along with resources for addressing patient safety and quality problems. During 2012, pilot tests of the new IM process will occur; results of these pilot tests will be communicated in future issues of Joint Commission Online. Full implementation is planned for 2013