CMA recently submitted comments to the Joint Commission on its proposed Medical Staff Standard relating to self-governance, MS.01.01.01 (formerly MS 1.20). Although CMA supports the intent of the Joint Commission to increase transparency and communications within hospital medical staffs, CMA believes some of the proposed changes are not in the best interest of patients.

One such change would allow “urgent” changes to rules and regulations without the prior notification or approval of the medical staff.

CMA does not believe that any amendments, even those that are truly urgent and necessary to comply with law or regulation, should be made without prior medical staff notification.

“Virtually anything could be considered to be ‘urgent,’ theoretically justifying an ‘amendment,’” CMA wrote in its comments. “This is a bad precedent for the Joint Commission to take, particularly since what is at issue are documents that are designed largely for procedural details.”

Contact: Samantha Pellon, 916/551-2872 or spellon@cmanet.org.