American hospitals are making measurable strides in the quality of care provided for patients with heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical conditions, according to The Joint Commission's second annual report on healthcare quality and patient safety in the nation's hospitals. The report portrays the aggregate performance of accredited hospitals against The Joint Commission's standardized national performance measures and its National Patient Safety Goals.

The report also shows, however, that whether patients receive proven treatments for these common reasons for hospitalization often depends on where they live. For example, statewide performance of hospitals on the measure of providing discharge instructions to patients with heart failure ranges from 49% to 91%.

The Joint Commission issues this annual report as part of its ongoing efforts to emphasize the health importance of accountability and continuous improvement for hospitals, and to empower consumers with information that will make them more active participants in their healthcare. The report examines how America's accredited hospitals performed against quality-related performance measures and safety goals during 2006 and in previous years.
"The improvements achieved have saved lives and resulted in better quality of life for thousands of patients," says Dennis S. O'Leary, MD, president, The Joint Commission. "Our experience continues to underscore the importance of investing in performance measurement and pursuing the improvement opportunities that these efforts identify."

Among the specific findings in the 2007 report:

* Accredited hospitals continue to show measurable improvements in performance.
The magnitude of improvement from 2002-2006 ranges from 3.6% to 52.2%. Some improvements over the five-year period of data collection-such as in providing smoking cessation advice-have been dramatic. Hospitals provided this advice to 89.4% of patients admitted with pneumonia in 2006 compared with only 37.2% of such patients in 2002. Hospitals also demonstrated 90% or higher compliance with 10 of 16 National Patient Safety Goal requirements that address issues such as medication safety, caregiver communication and preventing patient falls.
* Requiring hospitals to follow standardized processes for quality measurement, reporting and improvement has contributed significantly to the positive results.
For measures tracked for the first time in 2005, performance was generally lower and more variable than for measures tracked since 2002. This demonstrates a clear correlation between performance measurement and quality improvement. Much of the improvement reflected in this report can be attributed to the consistent application of focused, evidence-based measures which are the foundation of The Joint Commission's performance measurement endeavors.

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