Over the past few weeks, national accreditation organizations have issued statements concerning whether and how they plan to proceed with surveys during the coronavirus pandemic. The following includes highlights from these plans and provides links to each organization's latest official statement on the matter or articles with information about plans if no official statement could be found at this time. Note: Organizations are listed in alphabetical order.
Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
On March 17, AAAHC announced, "AAAHC has postponed non-emergency surveys for all Medicare deemed status accreditation (MDS) and non-MDS programs scheduled for a survey with a begin date of March 18 through May 1. … AAAHC will do our best to complete high priority emergency surveys for all MDS and non-MDS programs."
Read the AAAHC statement.
American Association for Accreditation of Ambulatory Surgery Facilities (AAAASF)
On March 18, AAAASF announced that it was "… suspending routine on-site resurvey activities. However, due to the national call to increase healthcare capacity, AAAASF will continue to conduct initial on-site surveys for all of its programs. We will be working directly with these facilities that require surveys as needed, in many cases to provide modified services in response to the emergency situation. In addition, AAAASF will continue to provide certain surveys at the discretion of the AAAASF Board, including in response to complaints related to infection control or patient abuse."
Read the AAAASF statement.
Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ)
At this time, it does not appear that CIHQ has issued an official statement concerning its plans for managing healthcare accreditation surveys during the pandemic. An article in Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare (PSQH) included a statement from the accreditation organization's CEO. His comments included the following: "At this time, CIHQ has suspended routine reaccreditation surveys for at least the month of April 2020. … We will continue to perform initial surveys for new hospitals, and surveys if needed to address infection prevention and control issues in our accredited facilities."
Det Norske Veritas (DNV) National Integrated Accreditation for Health Care Organizations
At this time, it does not appear that DNV has issued an official statement concerning its plans for managing healthcare accreditation surveys during the pandemic. An article from Hall Render attorneys noted that they expect DNV to issue an advisory notice explaining management plans and then provided a summary of what they understand to be DNV's survey plans, including the following: "DNV does not intend to cancel all accreditation surveys but will be flexible with hospitals that wish to push back their survey dates. Many hospitals have requested a postponement and DNV has agreed to such postponements." and "DNV is not conducting routine surveys in Washington, New York or California at this time."
Read the Hall Render article.
Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP)
On March 5, HFAP announced that it was suspending most survey activities, but noted that some surveying will go forward, including:
incoming immediate jeopardy complaints alleging infection control breaches or abuse and neglect;
complaint surveys alleging infection control breaches;
initial surveys (for organizations without a CMS certification number);
CLIA laboratory surveys; and
surveys of facilities with an immediate jeopardy-level infection control deficiency in the last three years.
Surveys that may go forward include those of facilities with a history of infection control deficiencies and certification surveys for which the facility and the surveyor have agreed to proceed.
Read the HFAP statement.
The Joint Commission
On March 16, The Joint Commission stated that it was "… suspending all regular surveying beginning Monday, March 16, 2020. In some cases, there may be a small number of surveys that will need to continue, such as high-risk situations."