Joint Commission seeks volunteers to test new acute stroke ready measures

Together with the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, The Joint Commission has developed a new certification program for facilities with acute stroke ready certification. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in America and the new program includes several new and updated performance measures for stroke care.

The Joint Commission announced that it would begin a pilot program to test out the draft measures with the overall goals of improving data collection methods, determining the measures’ reliability, and testing the effectiveness of electronic health records at collecting data.

Facilities are being asked to volunteer for the pilot program between now and July 1. Participants will be required to send monthly reports on ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke patients between August 1 and November 30, 2016. A few facilities will have Joint Commission personnel visit their facilities to determine the if the data collected on-site is reliable.

 Facilities will only be considered for the pilot program if:

•    They provide acute stroke care, including intravenous (IV) thrombolytic (t-PA) therapy for ischemic stroke
•    Are able to collecting and reporting data for all the proposed measures

In their press release, The Joint Commission explained that participation in the program will have no effect on a facility’s accreditation or performance process. Visit the Joint Commission website to learn more about the pilot program and its requirements.