The Joint Commission (TJC), formerly the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), is a United States-based not-for-profit organization that accredits over 19,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. A majority of state governments have come to recognize Joint Commission accreditation as a condition of licensure and the receipt of Medicaid reimbursement. Surveys (inspections) typically follow a triennial cycle, with findings made available to the public in an accreditation quality report on the Quality Check Web site.

The declared mission of the organization is "To continuously improve health care for the public, in collaboration with other stakeholders, by evaluating health care organizations and inspiring them to excel in providing safe and effective care of the highest quality and value".

The Joint Commission was renamed Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals in 1951, but it was not until 1965, that accreditation had any official impact. In 1965 the federal government decided that a hospital that met Joint Commission accreditation met the Medicare Conditions of Participation. Recently, Section 125 of the Medicare Improvement for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (MIPPA) removed The Joint Commission’s statutorily-guaranteed accreditation authority for hospitals, to be effective July 15, 2010. At that time, The Joint Commission’s hospital accreditation program will be subject to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) requirements for organizations seeking accrediting authority. To avoid a lapse in accrediting authority, The Joint Commission must submit an application for hospital accrediting authority consistent with these requirements and within a time frame that will enable CMS to review and evaluate their submission. CMS will make the decision to grant deeming authority and determine the term.

Clara Louise Maass (June 28, 1876 – August 24, 1901) was an American nurse who died as a result of volunteering for medical experiments to study yellow fever.

Clara Maass was born in West Orange, New Jersey to German immigrants Hedwig and Robert Maass. She was the oldest of 10 children in a devout Lutheran family.

In 1895 she became one of the first graduates of Newark German Hospital's Christina Trefz Training School for Nurses. By 1898, she had been promoted to head nurse at Newark German Hospital, where she was known for her hard work and dedication to her profession.

In April 1898, during the Spanish-American War, Maass volunteered as a contract nurse for the United States Army (the Army Nurse Corps did not yet exist). She served with the Seventh U. S. Army Corps from October 1, 1898 to February 5, 1899 in Jacksonville, Florida, Savannah, Georgia, and Santiago, Cuba. She was discharged in 1899, but volunteered again to serve with the Eighth U.S. Army Corps in the Philippines from November 1899 to mid-1900.