The Joint Commission added a new twist to its annual report on hospital quality and safety.
The recently released 2011 report, Improving America's Hospitals, recognizes top performing hospitals and critical access hospitals that use evidence-based care processes with positive patient outcomes. It is especially relevant with the shift in business models from volumes-based to one based on outcomes.
The report drew data from over 3,000 accredited hospitals and recognized 405 of them as top performers on key quality measures.
Measurements
The report is the sixth annual report and provides scientific evidence of hospital performance related to specific medical conditions, accountability and non-accountability measures.
The report tracked performance on three measurement categories – heart attack care, heart failure care and pneumonia care – over a nine-year period. Six additional measurements, tracked from one to six years, include surgical care, children's asthma care, inpatient psychiatric services, venous thromboembolism care, stroke care and perinatal care test measures.
Key Findings
Two notable findings of the 2011 report were the following.
- Significant improvement in percentage of hospitals consistently using evidence-based treatment from 81.8 percent in 2002 to 96.6 percent in 2010
- Greater achievement in hospitals with 90 percent or more compliance with accountability measures, from 20.4 percent in 2002 to 91.7 percent in 2010
Each of the top performing hospitals achieved 95 percent or above on providing evidence-based practices. Results for specific hospitals are at www.qualitycheck.org.
Somnia Anesthesia
Blog Editor