Hospitals Recognized for Quality Measures

OAKBROOK TERRACE, Ill. — Hospitals are improving their rates for complying with evidence-based care processes, according to a new report.

The Joint Commission, a nonprofit organization based in Oakbrook Terrace that has accredited more than 20,000 health care organizations, released a report in November, “America’s Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety: The Joint Commission’s 2014 Annual Report,” that is based on data reported by more than 3,300 accredited hospitals in 2013. The hospitals are located in rural and urban locations and represent all sizes and types of hospitals, from small critical access to large academic medical centers.

Over the past 12 years, the Joint Commission has been tracking the progress of health care quality improvement. The commission reports that the collective performance of the accredited hospitals on accountability measures has steadily improved over the past few years. The data shows that care has improved for pneumonia, children’s asthma, surgical care, heart failure and other common conditions. This research shows that nation-wide implementation of evidence-based quality improvement processes are working, according to the Joint Commission.

Additionally, 1,224 of the hospitals that reported data in 2013 have earned recognition by The Joint Commission’s Top Performer on Key Quality Measures program. The number represents an 11 percent increase from last year. That data means 36.9 percent of all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals reporting accountability measure performance data for 2013 are “Top Performer” hospitals, and 718 hospitals missed achieving Top Performer recognition by only a slight margin.

The Top Performer program identifies hospitals with extraordinary performance on measures of quality; however, the rating doesn’t count all aspects of quality of care provided in hospitals. The designation is based on performance related to accountability measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, perinatal care, surgical care, children’s asthma care, inpatient psychiatric services, venous thromboembolism (VTE) care, stroke care and immunization.

“Today we celebrate the successes that represent improvements in the quality of patient care at Joint Commission accredited hospitals across this country. America’s hospitals continue to make dramatic strides toward becoming more reliable and we continue to encourage them to do so. Each year, the quality standards’ bar has been raised and hospitals have responded to the challenge,” said Mark R. Chassin, M.D., FACP, M.P.P., M.P.H., president and CEO of the Joint Commission, in a statement. “We applaud their commitment to deliver the right treatment, in the right way, at the right time for patients. We also look forward to continuing to work together to accelerate further health care improvement.”