BALTIMORE, MD—May 26, 2011—Joint Commission Resources, Inc. (JCR), the not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission, and Med-IQ, America's most respected continuing medical education (CME) company, today announced a new strategic partnership to develop certified CME to support The Joint Commission's Disease-Specific Care Certification program.

The Joint Commission's Certification program, launched in 2002, is designed to evaluate clinical programs across the continuum of care for Joint Commission–accredited organizations, which may seek certification for virtually any chronic disease or condition.

"This certificate helps identify clinical programs recognized by The Joint Commission. Patients and other stakeholders at organizations that receive this certificate of achievement from The Joint Commission can be confident in that institution's ability to manage these specific diseases or conditions," said Jean E. Range, MS, RN, CPHQ, Executive Director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, The Joint Commission.

Educational topic areas will be based on disease-specific conditions and procedures. Participating hospitals and healthcare professionals will have access to all activities through www.Med-IQ.com.

"Med-IQ and JCR will develop CME activities designed to enhance a healthcare professional's knowledge about select Disease-Specific Care Certification therapeutic areas and corresponding performance measures," said William A. Mencia, MD, CCMEP, Vice President of Education & Medical Affairs, Med-IQ. "Each activity will be designed to address the effective use of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines to manage and optimize care and outline current performance measures, including references and links to current national performance measures and resources, latest guideline recommendations, clinical trial results, and other critical aspects of disease or condition management."

Initial education will be developed and posted online on both www.Med-IQ.com and www.jcrinc.com for the following Disease-Specific Care Certification education programs:

"The aim of this new educational program will be to assist hospitals and healthcare professionals in meeting The Joint Commission's Disease-Specific Care Certification requirements. All educational interventions and tools developed by JCR and Med-IQ will be certified for AMA PRA Category 1 CME Credits^TM and made available as resources to participants of the Disease-Specific Care Certification program," said George Riccio, Associate Director, Distance Learning, Joint Commission Resources.

About Joint Commission Resources

Joint Commission Resources (JCR), a not-for-profit affiliate of The Joint Commission, is the official publisher and educator of The Joint Commission. JCR is an expert resource for healthcare organizations, providing consulting services, educational services and publications to assist in improving quality and safety and to help in meeting the accreditation standards of The Joint Commission. JCR provides consulting services independently from The Joint Commission and in a fully confidential manner. Please visit our Web site at www.jcrinc.com.

About Med-IQ

Med-IQ, recipient of the Alliance for CME’s 2011 William Campbell Felch Award for Research in CME, is an accredited provider of education that inspires healthcare professionals through activities that deliver sophisticated outcomes-based educational designs with measurable results in professional competence and performance. Med-IQ is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the California Board of Registered Nursing (CBRN), and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) as a provider of continuing medical education to physicians, nurses, and pharmacists, respectively. We are a leader in the development of performance improvement (PI) and quality improvement (QI) CME initiatives. To learn more about Med-IQ, follow us on Twitter, connect with us on LinkedIn, and become a fan on Facebook.

For more information, contact:

Catherine B. Mullaney, MHA
Vice President, Educational Partnerships
Med-IQ
443 543 5101
info@med-iq.com

Elizabeth Eaken Zhani
Media Relations Manager
The Joint Commission
630 792 5914
ezhani@jointcommission.org

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