National Association of the Deaf

The NAD submitted comments to The Joint Commission’s “Proposed Requirements to Advance Effective Communication, Cultural Competence, and Patient-Centered Care for the Hospital Accreditation Program.” The NAD advocated for inclusion of specific requirements to ensure effective communication with all individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.

The Joint Commission, formerly called the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), is a private, non-profit organization. The Joint Commission establishes health care organization accreditation and certification standards and accredits and certifies more than 16,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States.

The Joint Commission's proposed requirements, once finalized, will become standards in its Hospital Accreditation Program. The Joint Commission recognizes that barriers to communication can exist in health care settings and that effective communication is necessary for patient safety. In its comments, the NAD described the diversity of the deaf and hard of hearing community, and emphasized the legal requirements for hospitals to comply with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The NAD recommended that hospital staff receive annual training about the ADA, effective communication, and auxiliary aids and services, such as qualified sign language interpreters, computer-aided transcription services, captioning, and assistive listening devices. The NAD also recommended that the Joint Commission clarify that a hospital’s obligations to ensure effective communication extends to patients, clients, family members, guardians, companions, and members of the general public who are deaf or hard of hearing. For the full NAD document, click here.