The Joint Commission Announces New Accreditation Program for Telehealth Providers

The Joint Commission, an independent healthcare accreditation nonprofit, recently announced a new telehealth accreditation program (TEL) applicable to eligible hospitals, ambulatory, and behavioral health organizations, among others, beginning July 1, 2024. TEL will replace existing ambulatory and behavioral telehealth accreditations and provide organizations offering telehealth services with the structures and processes necessary to help deliver safe, high-quality care using a telehealth platform.

The Joint Commission

The Joint Commission serves as an independent accrediting and certifying body for a variety of healthcare organizations and programs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, along with many states, have designated The Joint Commission as an approved accreditor for certain entities seeking Medicare and/or Medicaid certification.

TEL Program

With the growth of telehealth, particularly since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, The Joint Commission recognized the need for telehealth standards to ensure high-quality and safe telehealth care. The Joint Commission developed TEL for healthcare organizations that exclusively provide care, treatment, and services via telehealth. Hospitals and other healthcare organizations that have written agreements in place to provide telehealth services to another organization’s patients also have the option to apply for the new accreditation. Examples of eligible organizations:

• organizations that provide virtual primary care, specialty care, or urgent care
• organizations that provide online medical or behavioral consultation
• organizations that provide virtual assistance to hospitals through tele-ICU, telestroke, telepsychiatry, tele-imaging, etc.
• organizations that provide remote patient monitoring
• inpatient/outpatient psychiatric hospitals that provide telepsychiatry to an external hospital per contractual agreement; such hospitals can voluntarily seek a separate telehealth accreditation for the contracted services and would maintain their current hospital/behavioral healthcare accreditation
• acute hospitals that provide telestroke, tele-ICU, or telecardiac to an external hospital; such hospitals can voluntarily seek a telehealth accreditation for the contracted services and would maintain their current hospital accreditation

The Joint Commission will release specific TEL program requirements in May 2024. Eligible entities can expect similar requirements to those in the Joint Commission’s existing accreditation programs with added telehealth-specific requirements, including these:

• streamlined emergency management requirements to address providing care and clinical support remotely rather than in a physical building
• new standards for telehealth provider education and patient education about the use of telehealth platforms and devices
• new standards focused on telehealth equipment, devices, and connectivity

Further, depending on the telehealth modality (e.g., real-time interactive, asynchronous store and forward, or remote patient monitoring) or service provided (e.g., behavioral health), the standards and requirements may vary.

While formal applications to apply for TEL go live on July 1, 2024, providers may take advantage of a pre-application available now.

Implications for Telehealth Providers

Accreditation can be a valuable tool for providers to consider, particularly in the transactional context. Although accreditation is voluntary, TEL program accreditation can offer an advantage in due diligence as evidence of compliance with applicable standards, especially in light of the new U.S. Department of Justice Mergers & Acquisitions Safe Harbor Policy that incentivizes enhanced compliance-related due diligence, as discussed in our Sidley Update posted here.