The Joint Commission’s Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) Certification Program provides an independent, comprehensive evaluation of a staffing firm’s ability to provide qualified and competent staffing services.

Health care staffing firms are eligible for Joint Commission certification if they:

• Place temporary clinical staff in other organizations that direct or provide direct patient care.
• Place temporary clinical staff under the direct supervision of another organization's personnel.
• Collect and present four months of data for each of the three standardized performance measures.
• Place at least 10 individual clinical employees on assignments by the time of onsite review.

Certification process

HCSS firms undergo an announced initial review. Re-certification reviews are unannounced and are conducted on-site every other year. The review focuses on a firm’s ability to provide competent staffing services and evaluates performance, continuing education and training, placement criteria, and other areas. The standards, contained in the Health Care Staffing Services Certification Manual, are divided into four sections:

• Leadership
• Human resources management
• Performance measurement and improvement
• Information management

Performance measurement

Joint Commission-certified health care staffing firms and firms seeking initial certification are required to adopt a set of three standardized performance measures. These include:

• Do Not Return Rate for Clinical Reasons
• Do Not Return Rate for Professional Reasons
• Completeness of Personnel File

Certified health care staffing firms are required to collect monthly data for each measure in the set, which is submitted quarterly to The Joint Commission. nformation about  performance measures is provided in the Health Care Staffing Services Performance Measurement Implementation Guide, 2nd Edition.

Information available to the public

Quality Reports for Joint Commission certified health care staffing firms are available on the Quality Check™ Web site, www.qualitycheck.org. They include:

• Certification decision and effective date
• Last full review and last on-site review dates
• Demographic information
• Certified locations of care
• Commentary (optional) 

For more information, go to the Health Care Staffing Services Certification section of The Joint Commission Web site or contact Michele Sacco, executive director, Health Care Staffing Services Certification Program, at msacco@jointcommission.org.