JCAHO(pronounced 'jako') is responsible for accrediting hospitals. If JCAHO rejects you, in just about every state, you can't participate in Medicare/Medicaid. JCAHO is a private corporation and not a government "Commission" as their name suggests. You see, JCAHO also sells coffee cups, decals and and banners.
Aside from accrediting hospitals, they also "consult" with hospitals to help them meet JCAHO standards.
JCAHO is the Joint Commissionthat evaluates and accredits nearly 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States...
... To earn and maintain accreditation, an organization must undergo an on-site survey by a Joint Commission survey team at least every three years. However, laboratories must be surveyed every two years...
Congress passes the Social Security Amendments of 1965 with a provision that hospitals accredited by the Joint Commission are "deemed" to be in compliance with ... and able to participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Ok, so JCAHO is in charge of giving hospitals a passing grade, otherwise they aren't eligible to participate in the worlds largest medical reimbursement program.
JCAHO also owns a subsidiary called Joint Commission Resources (JCR) which is a consulting firm that helps prepare hospitals for the JCAHO inspections.
JCR solicits hospitals so that they can "achieve peak performance on their next survey," one brochure notes, and also sells its services to state hospital associations.
In 2005 the cost of a consultation ran about $10,000. Most of JCR's then nearly $33(2007 - $48 million) million in revenue came from helping hospitals win the JCAHO approval. JCAHO's annual revenue is about $100 million, so JCR's $48 milliion is a significant amount. They also have another subsidiary called the JCAHO SURVEYOR AND QHR CONSULTANT CORPORATION that pulls in another $37 milllion(2007).
JCAHOsays there's no conflict. Why?
Timmons said that there is a firewall between the subsidiary and the joint commission, and no inspection information is exchanged. "The joint commission would have no knowledge who we're dealing with," she said. "We're in a separate building several miles away" from the commission's Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., headquarters
Mr. Timmons, 1928 is calling and they want their lame defense back. You see we have this thing called the internet and facsimiles, and portable telephones you can fit in your pocket.
Hell, AIGFP coordinated a $180+ billions heist for the banks, and they're 6,000 miles away in London. So, forgive us if your "Jenny from the block" firewall, fails to impress.
While officials say no information flows between the two groups, tax returns show that a substantial amount of money does change hands.
In the past three years, JCR has paid its parent about $10.5 million in management fees and $867,000 in royalties. And according to its 2003 tax return, JCR owes the joint commission nearly $8.4 million. In addition, the affiliate helps to underwrite two money-losing joint ventures of the commission.
Somebody owes me $8.4 million, I'd think it would conflict both of our interests.
JCR is
a thriving subsidiary that charges hospitals thousands of dollars for coaching on how to pass its reviews. About 99 percent of the hospitals reviewed by the joint commission win accreditation, and in recent years it has missed glaring examples of poor care in which patients have been injured or killed:
The joint commission accredited California's Redding Medical Center in July 2002. A few months later, FBI agents raided the hospital amid charges that doctors had performed hundreds of unnecessary heart surgeries and tests from 1999 to 2002, allegedly resulting in some deaths.
So how is this like Moody's?
From McClatchy - "How Moody's sold ratings -- and sold out investors"
While Moody's and S&P were supposed to be giving honest ratings for bonds, they were also "consulting" with the people they were supposed to be grading leading to a culture of corruption.