The New Joint Commission Standards for Patient-Centered Communication: Hospitals Remain Unprepared As The Joint Commission Standards Go Into Effect

This white paper outlines the Joint Commission standards that have been implemented in 2011 as a part of a pilot project.  These standards will require healthcare organizations to provide all patients, regardless of language, patient-centered communication. Beginning no earlier than January 2012 organizations that fail to comply may risk jeopardizing their accreditation. This paper discusses the challenges ahead as healthcare organizations struggle to provide necessary language access services and integrate these new standards into their day-to-day operations.

Among the topics covered in this new White Paper:

• Language challenges that impact healthcare
• Why language services are critical
• The unfortunate truth: most hospitals are not compliant
• The origins of medical interpreting
• Patient/provider understanding and acceptance
• Joint Commission mandates for training and certification
• The standards that apply to language access services
• The consequences of non-compliance
• Developing a system-wide language services program
• The Joint Commission is serious
• Hospitals CAN prepare themselves