PROs in Joint Commission Advanced Certification

What does it take to achieve Advanced Certification?

Great News! Your department set a goal to achieve Advanced Certification for Orthopedic surgery. Now is time to dig into the Joint Commission’s care certification process. As of the writing of this article, the guideline outlines your need to report four (4) months of patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Now you may be wondering…How do we start? Is this something we can do in-house? Will PROs implementation slow down our certification?

How do we start?

This is always a tough question with any project. I recommend reading CODE’s “10 Step Guide: Spearheading an Outcomes Program”. There is excellent information to support this question, but more importantly, it also has the questions you don’t know to ask.

Can we do this in-house?

Yes, you can. We have seen organizations collect PROs in-house. Most organizations have shared that the internal development time was too much at an average of 1,400 to 1,600 FTE hours.

Now taking into consideration the shift to telehealth, the PRO collection capture rate for in-clinic collection has gone down considerably. These factors lead many organizations to decide to use third-party software for their collection efforts.  With just the software platform, organizations are still struggling with capture rate and requiring internal resources to manage collection efforts.

With CODE, we are your platform and PRO collection team, reducing and sometimes eliminating the need for dedicated internal resources.  This allows you to keep your staff focused on their day-to-day activities while reaping the benefits of the data that CODE will collect on your behalf.

Will PROs implementation slow down our certification?

Short answer: No, it doesn’t have to!

Joint Commission requires four (4) months of PROs collection for advanced credentialing, but setting up your PROs program doesn’t have to be a strain on your timeline or workflow. Partnering with a vendor that provides both a platform and service can significantly reduce the time it takes you to meet the requirements. Implementation time for your PROs program can vary from one vendor to the next. At CODE, we have a proven implementation process where clients collect data within thirty (30) days after the kickoff call. I recommend checking out CODE’s Vendor Checklist to make sure you have the right information. Don’t let a drawn-out implementation slow down your certification.

Venturing into new areas and certifications can be challenging.  With the right team and right partners, it will be a success.