The Joint Commission has announced that beginning Jan. 1, 2020, new antimicrobial stewardship requirements will be applicable to Joint Commission-accredited ambulatory health care organizations that routinely prescribe antimicrobial medications. These include organizations providing:
- Medical or dental services
- Episodic care
- Occupational/worksite health
- Urgent/immediate care
- Convenient care
The requirements are not applicable to ambulatory surgery centers or the office-based surgery program. The inappropriate use of antimicrobial medications has contributed to antibiotic resistance and adverse drug events. Improving antimicrobial prescribing practices is a patient safety priority, leading The Joint Commission to develop a new standard in the Medication Management (MM) chapter — MM.09.01.03 — and add five new elements of performance (EPs) addressing antimicrobial stewardship in the ambulatory setting.
These new EPs align with current recommendations from scientific and professional organizations and address the following concepts. They are:
- Identifying an antimicrobial stewardship leader
- Establishing an annual antimicrobial stewardship goal
- Implementing evidence-based practice guidelines related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal
- Providing clinical staff with educational resources related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal
- Collecting, analyzing and reporting data related to the antimicrobial stewardship goal
- View the prepublication standards
The Joint Commission also recently published a R3 Report detailing the rationale and references used to develop these new requirements.
