The Joint Fee’s new Rural Well being Clinic Accreditation Program, out there in summer time 2024, has obtained preliminary deeming authority from the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Companies (CMS).
This system’s purpose is to assist organizations in underserved, rural communities enhance the protection and high quality of major care and private well being companies. It supplies a framework to assist rural well being clinics standardize how care is delivered. The accreditation program is targeted on decreasing variation and danger to enhance affected person outcomes.
Rural well being clinics that search Medicare reimbursement should be accredited by an accrediting group with deeming authority. Rural well being clinics eligible for the brand new accreditation program should meet all state and federal necessities, together with location, staffing and healthcare companies necessities.
Moreover, rural well being clinics should meet the Joint Fee’s requirements primarily based on CMS Situations for Certification for rural well being clinics, with extra particular necessities vital to affected person security and high quality. The requirements concentrate on these key operational areas:
• Emergency preparedness
• Well being data administration
• An infection management
• Medical error mitigation
• Treatment administration
• Affected person evaluation and care
• Affected person rights
• Efficiency enchancment
• Workers competency
“With deeming authority from CMS, the Joint Fee will have the ability to work with rural well being clinics throughout the nation to assist them set up a high quality and security framework for the greater than 60 million People dwelling in rural areas,” mentioned Jonathan B. Perlin, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief government officer of the Joint Fee enterprise, in a press release. “The brand new Rural Well being Clinic Accreditation Program intently aligns with The Joint Fee’s strategic precedence space on healthcare fairness for all. All sufferers deserve entry to protected and high quality care no matter their location.”
The Joint Fee notes that 15 % of People dwell in rural communities. Apart from the space rural People are from healthcare suppliers, many individuals undergo from situations placing their well being in danger, similar to hypertension and weight problems. Rural People are additionally extra prone to die from coronary heart illness, most cancers, unintentional harm, persistent decrease respiratory illness, and stroke than their city counterparts.