Home Health Care

The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is a nonprofit organization that evaluates and accredits both hospital-based and freestanding home health agencies. GAO found that the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) properly evaluated the commission's ability to ensure that home health agencies meet Medicare conditions of approval. Further, HCFA's evaluation was done in accordance with the proposed regulation governing the granting of deeming authority to accrediting organizations. As a result of its review, HCFA believed that some issues needed to be resolved before it could approve deeming authority for JCAHO. These issues were discussed with JCAHO and have been resolved to the satisfaction of both organizations.

GAO found that: (1) HCFA performed its evaluation of the commission's capability to ensure that home health agencies meet Medicare participation conditions in accordance with the proposed regulation; (2) HCFA did not request information from the commission on its ability to provide electronic data and reports because HCFA has worked extensively with the commission on its hospital accreditation program; (3) HCFA identified several areas to be resolved before it could approve deeming authority to the commission; (4) the areas identified concerned notification to HCFA of any accredited health agency that opts not to be surveyed annually, the time it takes to conduct follow-up visits, and the proposed basis for determining compliance with Medicare requirements; and (5) HCFA discussed the concerns with the commission, and they were resolved to the satisfaction of both organizations.