What’s New in the Patient Safety World
March
2009
Joint
Commission Puts a Hold on Medication Reconciliation Scoring
Our December 30, 2008 Patient Safety Tip of the Week “Unintended Consequences: Is Medication Reconciliation Next?” discussed the difficulties healthcare organizations are encountering in implementation of medication reconciliation programs. Well, Joint Commission must have been listening because shortly thereafter they announced that, effective January 1, 2009, they will temporarily halt inclusion of NPSG #8 (medication reconciliation) in the accreditation decision. They will still survey your organization’s activities on medication reconciliation but there will be no requirements for improvement (RFI’s) issued.
Joint Commission remains committed to the concept of medication reconciliation and will gather evidence on best practices and conduct meetings with stakeholders over the next year with the intent of reinstituting NPSG#8 in 2010. As before, we’ve been very concerned about unintended consequences occurring as a result of hasty implementation of unproven medication reconciliation techniques. We commend Joint Commission for being both practical and considerate in this decision.
References:
Joint Commission. Medication reconciliation National Patient Safety Goal to be reviewed, refined. February 5, 2009
http://www.jointcommission.org/Library/WhatsNew/med_rec.htm
http://www.patientsafetysolutions.com
Patient
Safety Tip of the Week Archive
What’s New in the Patient Safety World Archive