Effective March 1, 2020, minor modifications are being made to the survey agenda to better accommodate critical survey activities:
These modifications are not applicable to the laboratory or certification programs.
The following provides a list of changes:
• Opening Conference/Orientation to the Organization have been combined and limited to 1 hour or less.
• Surveyor Planning Session (which followed the Opening Conference/Orientation to the Organization) has been removed allowing the surveyor(s) to begin tracer activities immediately.
• Special Issue Resolution/Surveyor Planning Session have been combined at the end of each day.
In order to support these changes, accredited organizations—prior to the Opening Conference/Orientation to the Organization—should be prepared to do the following:
• Promptly alert the leadership team of any on-site survey event to facilitate their availability for a prompt Opening Conference/Orientation to the Organization in accordance with the time noted on the survey agenda.
• Prepare all required documentation and deliver these documents to the survey team immediately after they are escorted to the meeting room (see the Survey Activity Guide on The Joint Commission’s website or on your Joint Commission Connect® extranet site for the list of required documentation).
• Contact the escorts/scribes or primary contacts and ensure that they are ready to accompany each surveyor immediately following the Opening Conference/Orientation to the Organization.