April 11, 2005

Dear Colleagues:

We want to alert you to increased episodes nationwide of individuals fraudulently posing as official surveyors for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO).

In recent months, men and women, sometimes in groups, arrived at hospitals in Los Angeles, Boston, Detroit and a city in New Jersey and asked to tour different areas of the hospitals. According to JCAHO administrators, the "inspectors" were not associated in any way with JCAHO.

In Los Angeles, a man and a woman, both described as Caucasian, well dressed and in their 30s, possibly wearing badges similar to those issued by JCAHO. They left after being stopped by hospital security guards. In Boston, at 3 a.m. in the morning, a man described as 35 to 40 years old of South Asian descent demanded to inspect areas of the hospital and left after being questioned by hospital staff. A woman described as Caucasian entered a Detroit hospital through the maternity ward and wandered around until hospital staff questioned her. She said she was a surveyor, but fled after staff asked further questions. And in New Jersey March 27, three men described as in their 30s to 40s, possibly of Middle Eastern descent and speaking unaccented English, presented themselves as physicians from JCAHO and asked for information about capacity, services and other hospital operations. They left when their questions were not answered.

While we wish to be helpful to the many visitors who come to Hopkins every day, it's important for everyone, not just our security force, to be vigilant and extremely cautious when approached by anyone claiming to have some "official" need to be in our facilities, asking questions about our operations, and requesting access to offices, records, patient care areas, faculty, nurses and administrators. There are potential safety and legal problems when unauthorized people are given such access.

Those who fraudulently pose as officials can be intimidating and it is understandable that our faculty and staff may feel coerced into cooperating. That is why it is important for you to know that no employee is under any obligation to respond immediately to any request for information, even to those who are on official business.

In summary, if you are approached by anyone asking for or demanding immediate access or information about hospital operations, we ask that you notify Security at 5-5585 and the General Counsel's office at 4-3322. And before responding even to legitimate but unscheduled visits by JCAHO and government auditors or investigators, police officers or other officials, it's important to notify the General Counsel's office at 4-3322.

Sincerely,

Judy A. Reitz,Sc.D.
Executive Vice President
Chief Operating Officer
The Johns Hopkins Hospital

Joseph R. Coppola
Vice President
Security
Johns Hopkins Medicine