"America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety: The Joint Commission's Annual Report 2015" shows gains in how hospitals are performing on evidence-based care processes for treating conditions such as heart attack, pneumonia and stroke — but improvements can still be made.
Data included in the 2015 report, which was released Monday, was collected beginning Jan. 1, 2014. Hospitals that participate submit monthly data on a quarterly basis to third-party vendors on all measures of performance within specific sets they choose. The vendors then compile and provide data to The Joint Commission, which generates its list of Top Performers.
To achieve Top Performer status, a hospital must:
Achieve cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures
Achieve performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure with at least 30 denominator cases
Have at least one core measure set with a composite rate of 95 percent or above and, within that measure set, achieve a performance rate of 95 percent or above on all applicable individual accountability measures.
Highlighted below are five key takeaways from the annual report.
1. More than 1,000 hospitals (representing 31.5 percent of all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals) earned the 2015 Top Performer on Key Quality Measures recognition, with at least one Top Performer hospital in each state.
2. Of the Top Performer hospitals, 650 achieved the distinction for the past two consecutive years, 435 for the past three consecutive years, 221 for the past four years and 117 for the past five consecutive years.
3. Twenty-three Top Performer hospitals exceeded 2014 expectations by collecting and reporting data and achieving Top Performer thresholds on seven or more core measure sets — more than the required number of six.
4. Looking at composite accountability measure results, hospital performance has improved significantly over time, greatly enhancing the quality of care provided in Joint Commission-accredited hospitals in heart attack, pneumonia, surgical care, children's asthma care, inpatient psychiatric, venous thromboembolism, stroke, immunization and perinatal patients.
5. Still, the share of Joint Commission-accredited hospitals that achieved a composite accountability measure performance of greater than 95 percent in 2014 was 80.3 percent, down from 81.1 percent in 2013.
To access the full 2015 report, click here.
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