(Chuck Mowll, cmowll@jointcommission.org) http://www.jointcommission.org/Library/jconline/jconline_jan_2009.htm
Standard MS.1.20 Task Force to meet in March
The MS.1.20 Task Force will meet in March to continue its work of determining the best approach to revise Standard MS.1.20 relating to Medical Staff bylaws. Any recommended changes would be the subject of a field review and consideration by the Board of Commissioners. At its June 2007 meeting, the Board of Commissioners approved revisions to the hospital standard MS.1.20 related to medical staff bylaws and associated rules and regulations and policies. Following concerns received from hospitals, the 19-member Task Force was convened in January 2008 by the Board to analyze the potential impact of implementing the revised standard. One aspect of the revised standard the Task Force was asked to examine is the perceived prescriptiveness of the standard regarding the level of associated details related to the requirements that must be in the medical staff bylaws. The Task Force will consider whether these associated details should be in the medical staff bylaws or can reside in rules and regulations or policies. At its May 2008 meeting, the Board suspended the July 2009 implementation of the June 2007 revisions. The Standard MS.1.20 in the 2008 Hospital Accreditation Manual (MS.01.01.01 in the 2009 manual) will remain in effect until further notice. Note: There is an indefinite moratorium on the implementation of Element of Performance 19 of the current MS.1.20/MS.01.01.01. Therefore, the Joint Commission survey assesses whether each of the topics identified in EPs 1 through 18 are addressed in the bylaws, and whether necessary detail is addressed in either the bylaws, or rules and regulations, or policies. The survey does not assess how much of the detail is placed in rules and regulations or policies, rather than in bylaws; that decision is left to each medical staff and governing body.
