The Joint Commission Announces Revision Infection Prevention and Control Chapter

According to the Jan. 10 announcement from The Joint Commission, effective July 1, 2024, a fully revised Infection Prevention and Control (IC) chapter that includes new and revised requirements, has been approved for all Joint Commission-accredited critical access hospitals and hospitals.

The announcement states that “The goal of the IC chapter rewrite was to help organizations develop a strong framework for their IC programs, while aligning requirements more closely to law and regulation and the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Conditions of Participation (CoPs).”

The Joint Commission says it has eliminated requirements that don’t add value to accreditation surveys in order for organizations to focus on the structures that support IC quality and safety. The rewrite reduced 70% of EPs in the chapter.

The announcement adds that “Revisions include:

• Removed elements of performance (EPs) related to waste management and responding to an influx of potentially infectious patients because they were redundant to existing Environment of Care (EC) and Emergency Management (EM) requirements.
• Added new Standard IC.07.01.01 with its two new EPs to enhance critical access hospitals’ and hospitals’ preparedness for high-consequence infectious diseases or special pathogens. These new requirements are based on scientific literature, government resources, and recommendations from The Joint Commission’s technical advisory panel on emerging infectious disease preparedness.”

Also, The Joint Commission created a new IC Assessment Tool that details the IC practices and structures needed to meet the IC requirements.

The Joint Commission has the announcement.