Joint Commission accreditation is based on a survey of your laboratory and depends on the size and scope of the laboratory services you provide. A typical survey of a laboratory in a medium-sized acute care hospital involves one surveyor.
We can help you decide which of the following survey options is right for your organization:
Traditional Survey Option
Our laboratory accreditation surveys are geared to your laboratory’s specific needs. However, some features are common to all initial surveys. Their key feature is our laboratory tracer methodology, in which the surveyor follows the patient’s experience through pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical laboratory processes. Tracers assess the effectiveness, safety, and quality of patient care by tracking laboratory results all the way to the patient’s chart.
Laboratory Multi-organization Survey Option
If your organization owns or leases at least two laboratories, you may choose our multi-organization survey option. This multi-laboratory option accredits the individual laboratories that are part of the system, not the system itself. It uses a modified survey process, and includes three components:
- A corporate orientation that is held at the beginning of the year. This gives your corporate staff a chance to familiarize the surveyor or survey team with the structure and practices of your system.
- Full surveys of participating laboratories with a survey team leader who is dedicated to the organization for two years.
- A corporate summation of all the laboratories surveyed for the year would give you information about the survey findings and provide an overall analysis of your system’s strengths and weaknesses.
Your organization can choose only an orientation, only a summation, or both an orientation and summation.
After the survey, each laboratory within the system receives its own accreditation decision and accreditation survey findings report. The findings and decision for one laboratory have no bearing on those of the other laboratories within the system.
Concurrent Survey Option
Laboratories or systems with multiple Joint Commission-accredited laboratories can choose our concurrent survey option. The concurrent survey process works best when conducted in systems where 12 or fewer entities wish to be surveyed at the same time. It provides a structure across the entire system and has the following three components:
- Unannounced surveys of participating laboratories that occur at the same time.
- The requirement that each participating laboratory must demonstrate compliance with all Joint Commission standards, independent of any other laboratories within the system.
- Separate survey reports and accreditation decisions for each laboratory.
Early Survey Option
If you are new to Joint Commission accreditation and feel that your laboratory isn’t ready for full evaluation, you may prefer our early survey option. This allows you to enter the process in two stages. The early survey option consists of two on-site visits and enables you to set up your business operations in compliance with administrative and organizational standards.
