Individual Mandate to Wash Your Hands: Joint Commission to Cite Organizations if Personnel Fail to Perform Hand Hygiene

​Beginning January 1, 2018, Joint Commission will cite failure to perform hand hygiene on the part of any individual engaged "in the process of direct patient care" as a deficiency, the organization has announced. This citation will result in a Requirement for Improvement (RFI) under the Infection Prevention and Control chapter for each of Joint Commission's accreditation programs. Hand hygiene is the most important intervention in preventing healthcare-associated infections, Joint Commission said. In the past, surveyors issued RFIs to organizations only when they had failed to implement and make progress on hand-hygiene improvement programs.