First of Its Kind: New Joint Commission AI Certification

Here’s another first for you, and it comes from your favorite hospital surveying entity.

On June 1^st, the Joint Commission released “First of Its Kind Exclusively Designed for Healthcare Organizations, Voluntary Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare Certification.” According to the Joint Commission, this new certification will recognize U.S. healthcare organizations and health systems that responsibly adopt and implement AI technology. Here’s an excerpt from the official announcement:

Joint Commission today announced the launch of its new Responsible Use of AI in Healthcare (RUAIH) certification. RUAIH delivers on a promise made in 2025 when the company released initial guidance to help U.S. health systems safely and effectively implement AI, which was developed after Joint Commission convened more than 20 key coalitions and groups with expertise in both healthcare and technology.

It is important to note that the surveyor didn’t just come up with the criteria for awarding the RUAIH certification on its own, relying on its own ideas or its own staff members. The set of standards was developed in tandem with a large number of stakeholders who have skin in the game and thus represents a consensus of multiple experts in the field.

The Goal

According to the announcement, the Joint Commission’s goal is to “provide governance support for delivering the safest and highest quality care for U.S. health systems across the care continuum.” The commission notes that more than 80% of physicians are currently using AI in professional settings.As such, there is a rapidly developing need for universal standards related to the implementation of this transformational technology in responsible ways.

According to Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, president and CEO of the Joint Commission, “AI has the potential to unlock discoveries and improve quality, safety and operating efficiency. With this new certification, Joint Commission is providing healthcare organizations with the blueprint for safely and appropriately using AI.”

The Rationale

The commission notes that “while AI tools are proving to be increasingly revolutionary, the use of AI also inevitably comes with some risk—from data privacy and security to data inaccuracies, lack of transparency in the AI decision-making process and more.” It is that risk that has prompted the Joint Commission and many others to work together to produce a set of standards that healthcare facilities should observe as it concerns the use of AI; and the new Joint Commission certification will signify to potential patients and the greater healthcare community that its holder is in compliance with these standards. The announcement reinforces that “at its core, RUAIH recognizes that responsible AI use is not only a technology issue—it is a patient safety, quality, governance, privacy, and trust issue.”

The rationale for creating this first-of-its-kind AI certification was echoed by Aaron Miri, DHA, FCHIME, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer, Baptist Health:

We are seeing the power of AI every day in our work. Most evidently, it is making our processes more efficient and our staff more productive, enabling nurses and doctors to spend more time doing what they love most: delivering quality care to patients and their families. It is critical that hospitals have a framework to follow for this emerging and evolving technology. This new certification from Joint Commission has been long-awaited by our organization and many others across the industry as AI tools become increasingly embedded in our clinical, operational, administrative and care-support workflows.

With the need for such a certification addressed, let’s now take a deeper dive into the nature of the certification itself.

The Certification

First, it is important to reinforce the fact that RUAIH is a voluntary certification program. Hospitals are not penalized at this point if they do not obtain the certification. Second, while the RUAIH seeks to certify the safe, reliable, transparent and ethical use of AI by healthcare organizations, it is important to note that it does not validate or certify individual AI products or tools. And, third, the certification standards are organized around five major areas: (a) governance; (b) effective data management; (c) risk and bias reduction; (d) monitoring, evaluating and validating safety performance, effectiveness and responsible use; and (e) transparency, education and training.

Dr. Brian Anderson, CEO of Coalition for Health AI (CHAI) wrote that he applauds the Joint Commission’s new voluntary certification, noting that “The Joint Commission certification and CHAI's recently published governance playbooks are tightly aligned on the need for responsible and transparent AI in healthcare. We believe this alignment will greatly reduce confusion and help to accelerate rapid and responsible adoption of AI in healthcare.”

If you are interested in applying for the RUAIH certification, you can contact the Joint Commission. Interested healthcare organizations do not need to be accredited by Joint Commission to apply for the certification.

To learn more, visit https://jointcommission.org/en-us/certification/responsible-use-of-ai-in-healthIt can be quite the accomplishment to be first. Coming in first place in a sports competition can bring hoorays and hurrahs from an ardent fanbase. The same can be said for political races or other head-to-head endeavors. But to be first in the area of discovery or accomplishment is on a different level. The first to invent calculous, the first to discover America, the first man in space—all these and many other firsts reflect truly significant achievements.