Starting this fall, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) is offering a new certification for supplemental health care staffing firms. The Health Care Staffing Services (HCSS) certification will validate staffing firms' commitment to providing and continuously improving quality services. It also will acknowledge firms' compliance with JCAHO's national set of consensus-based standards.

The benefits of attaining HCSS certification include the potential to attract and retain nurses, and the likelihood that facilities looking for supplemental staff might give preferential consideration to certified staffing firms.

For more information, tap into JCAHO's Web site at http://www.jcaho.org/dscc/hcss/hcsc.htm