A360 Isn’t Just Another Update. It’s a Turning Point for Accreditation Readiness

In healthcare, accreditation is never just a box to check. It plays a critical role in keeping patients safe, teams aligned, and care consistent.

So when The Joint Commission introduced Accreditation 360 (A360), many healthcare leaders felt the shift immediately. New standards. A new structure. New ways of thinking about readiness layered onto already full workloads. During our recent webinar, A360 and Beyond, RLDatix was joined by Maureen D’Agostino, Vice President of Corporate Accreditation at McLaren Health Care, to explore what this transition really means for the people doing the work every day.

One thing became clear early on. A360 is not just an update. It represents a reset in how organizations approach accreditation readiness, and it is normal if it feels like a lot at first.

Why A360 Feels Different

As Laura Sutton, MPH, RN, CJCP, CPHQ, Healthcare Solutions Consultant at RLDatix, explained, A360 is more than a reorganization of standards. It is designed to support:

· Greater consistency across accreditation programs

· Clearer alignment with CMS Conditions of Participation

· A stronger focus on continuous, integrated readiness

For teams on the ground, this means rethinking how audits are built, how policies connect to standards, and how daily work supports long-term readiness.

It is meaningful progress, but it is also change. And change takes time.

What Healthcare Teams Are Learning Now

Maureen shared a candid look at what A360 readiness looks like within a large, multi-hospital system.

Accelerating continuous readiness

Her team has been operating in what she described as “rounding 2.0” for over a year, increasing the frequency and consistency of tracers while tightening rounding practices to prepare for both known and unknown changes.

Her reassurance was clear. If your continuous readiness program is strong today, you do not need to rebuild everything. The focus is refinement, not reinvention.

Using tracers to test new expectations

As new Survey Process Guide expectations emerge, her team runs focused audits each month across all hospital accreditation managers. This allows them to test whether existing tracers and questions still hold up under the new requirements.

Managing the data behind the work

One of the biggest efforts was not rounding itself, but ensuring the underlying systems could support the new structure.

As Maureen noted, having the right foundation already in place made a significant difference. Because the RLD Audits & Standards (A&S) module already supported structured data, updating systems to align with new requirements was far more manageable.

Making A360 Readiness More Manageable

Preparing for A360 does not mean starting from scratch. It means having better visibility, stronger connections, and tools that support how accreditation work actually happens.

Recent updates to the RLD A&S module were designed with that reality in mind, including:

· Increased visibility into question history to understand what has changed and why

· The ability to add crosswalked standards to questions, supporting more connected audits

· Early access to A360 manuals directly within the platform

· Policy and question linkage reporting for a more complete view of readiness

Instead of managing updates in silos, teams can see how policies, questions, rounds, and standards work together in one place.

Support Beyond the Standards

Accreditation readiness does not live in a single manual. It lives in how teams communicate expectations, document compliance, and respond to change.

As requirements continue to evolve, the goal remains the same. Help healthcare teams move from reactive preparation to intentional, sustainable readiness.

A360 may be a turning point, but with the right tools and support, it does not have to be a disruptive one.