Effective Jan. 1, 2022, updates will go into effect for the Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) Certification Program according to a release by The Joint Commission.
The revised standards and elements of performance (EPs) are:
- Human Resources Management (HSHR) Standard HSHR.3 will now clarify that this is the firm’s new employee orientation for clinical staff and specifies that a new employee will complete it before their first assignment start date.
- HSHR.4 will no longer include clinical staff supervisors, which leads to deleting EPs 5 and 6. These requirements are being replaced with:
-New EP 8 requires that staffing firms engage clinical professionals in competence assessment and reassessment activities when necessary. It also requires that these clinical professionals have knowledge and experience reflecting that of the firm’s clinical staff.
- New EP 9 requires staffing firms to identify in documented procedures the predefined circumstances in which they will engage qualified clinical professionals in their competence assessment and reassessment activities. Reviewers will expect to see evidence that a firm is implementing the procedure defined in this EP through documentation in personnel records, when applicable.
- Leadership (HSLD) Standard HSLD.9, EP 5 will now specify that testing the emergency management plan includes the test date and any identified opportunities to improve the plan. If no improvement opportunities are identified through testing, documentation should state this fact.
