Should you find yourself in a situation where you or a loved one is receiving poor or negligent treatment at a hospital, aside from hiring a lawyer, what can you do? A friend with healthcare experience told me a few years ago about the Joint Commission.
So what is that?
To quote their website:
Our Mission and VisionThe mission of The Joint Commission is to continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value. Our vision is that all people always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings. We do this by setting quality standards, evaluating an organization’s performance, and providing an interactive educative experience that provides innovative solutions and resources to support continuous improvement.
Hospitals who have Joint Commission accreditation are required to uphold certain standards of care. Sometimes just the mention of the joint commission to a doctor or higher up when care is inept is enough to get results. If patients or family members feel the level of care is not up to par or even so negligent it is life threatening, they can file a complaint here on their website. (You should look up the name of the hospital in a search with the words 'joint commission' after it to make sure the hospital system is accredited or else they can't help you. I have to assume all hospitals have to be but maybe I'm wrong.)
From what several people have told me, once a complaint is filed there will be an investigation which makes everyone in the system be on their best behavior. I've just filed one and hope that it gets my mom the care she deserves and desperately needs. I hope none of you ever have to deal with "care" that could potentially cost you or your loved ones their lives. Just know that you do have options and you don't have to be intimidated by a corporation.
Advocate for yourself and your family!!
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Advocating for yourself is the biggest lesson I have learned regarding healthcare in life and this is something you want to bookmark now!
ReplyDeletePart of the reason why this makes hospitals on their best behavior is because if a hospital loses their JC accreditation their Medicare reimbursements go down...by quite a bit. And if they are Magnet Certified for nursing, they can potentially lose that as well. Often times raises are based off of their accreditation standing as well as those Press Ganey surveys you get in the mail after seeing a provider. Those make a big difference with how raises are done yearly for doctors and within departments.
ReplyDeleteGood to know. Our county has a senior citizen ombudsman you can contact
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