In 2008 The Joint Commission convened a Task Force to review proposed Standard MS. 1.20, renamed MS.01.01.01, regarding the required contents of Medical Staff Bylaws and how amendments must be handled.
Since the standard was created in 2004, many have raised concerns about the intent of the requirements of the standard, including requiring too many details in the bylaws, the cost and burden associated with changing bylaws, the potential for disrupting relationships between the medical staff and the governing body and the role of the medical executive committee.
The new draft is supported by the National Association Medical Staff Services, which reports that while the latest version may require many facilities to change their medical staff bylaws to some degree, there are significant improvements over the previous version.
Reported improvements include allowing facilities to include policy and procedure details in documents separate from the medical staff bylaws as well as allowing the medical staff to delegate the approval of policies and procedures to the medical executive committee.
Those organizations represented on the Task Force are currently circulating the revised draft standard among their members, with member input due by October 15, 2009. The Joint Commission will review the results of the feedback after that date and will then determine whether to release the proposed revision for field review.
Click here to read The Joint Commission’s official announcement.