ASA Offers Amendments to TJC Pain Assessment and Management Requirements for the Hospital Accreditation Program

On February 20, ASA submitted comments to The Joint Commission (TJC) on its Proposed Requirements Related to Pain Assessment and Management for the Hospital Accreditation Program. The proposed requirements would modify current hospital pain assessment and pain management priorities. Physician anesthesiologists and pain medicine specialists are uniquely positioned to lead this effort locally and the letter expressed support for hospitals to have a leadership structure in place for pain management and safe opioid prescribing. In addition, ASA argued that less prescriptive accreditation requirements will successfully allow institutions to develop robust policies for each stakeholder to meet.

The comment letter provided more than a dozen amendments and requests for clarification for TJC consideration.

Please visit the ASA Quality and Regulatory Affairs website for more information regarding TJC and other Accrediting Organizations. For additional information, please contact the ASA Department of Quality and Regulatory Affairs (QRA) at (202) 289-2222 or via e-mail at [email protected].