The Joint Commission will require all employees who travel to healthcare organizations for surveys, reviews and other onsite activities to be fully vaccinated by October 18.
This action will help protect the organization's staff, as well as frontline healthcare workers, staff and patients in the healthcare organizations that The Joint Commission accredits, certifies and works with on quality improvement activities, the organization said in a news release.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Joint Commission paused all onsite surveys and reviews from mid-March through May 2020. During that time, processes were developed for conducting offsite (formerly called “virtual”) events. In the latter half of 2020, the organization was able to resume onsite surveys for some of its accreditation programs using county-level data on COVID-19 rates to determine where onsite events could be conducted safely. With the advent in early 2021 of COVID-19 vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration under emergency use authorization, the commission was able to resume a more regular program of unannounced surveys and reviews.
