Team, 

As you know, we’re preparing to soon welcome a group of Joint Commission surveyors between now and September. I hear a lot from different groups about being “Joint Commission ready.” While this is absolutely important—as their survey provides us with a benchmark of our hospitals and clinics’ quality and safety standards—the real question we should ask ourselves is, “Are we patient ready?” 

Our protocols and policies are not in place for the Joint Commission. They exist—and we follow them—because it’s the right thing to do for our patients and visitors to keep them safe. If we’re diligent and mindful of maintaining a safe environment day in and day out, a visit from the Joint Commission becomes just another week. 

With that in mind, we should all be taking a proactive approach to patient-readiness, each and every day.  

How do we do this? I encourage you to review the host of resources available to us from our Quality and Safety teams. Resources—from quick tips to downloadable fact sheets—can be found on The Loop to help us all be patient (and Joint Commission) ready.  

Thank you for all you do. 

Theresa Brennan, MD, FACC 
Chief Medical Officer