Strategic Surveillance System (S3)

FAQs about Strategic Surveillance System (S3)

What is S3™?

S3 stands for The Strategic Surveillance System. The Strategic Surveillance System is an exclusive benefit provided to hospitals accredited by The Joint Commission. 

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Why was S3™ developed?

One of the most compelling needs in the health care environment is actionable data and information that can be used to prioritize and drive quality and safety improvement.  As performance expectations increase, so does the need to know how to use data to drive improvement.  S3™ is a tool that provides a series of risk assessment and comparative performance measure reports to help hospitals improve their care processes. The reports also help hospitals prioritize the actions to take for improvement.

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What is included in S3™?

The idea is that S3™ will be a suite of information tools.  Currently, we have one defined tool within S3™ and are conducting research for the possibility of future tools.

Tool 1 – Performance Risk Assessment – This tool assesses potential internal system risks by utilizing Priority Focus Process comparisons; rating comparative performance for all Priority Focus Areas and Clinical/Service Groups; and identifying specific data and findings that are contributing to specific results.  Organizations will be able to analyze comparative performance against national, state and other comparative benchmarks by Priority Focus Area and Clinical/Service Groups and trend historical data to identify risks, set priorities for attention, and undertake appropriate improvements. 

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What are some of the benefits of S3™?

There are several benefits to S3™.

  • Hospitals have access to national and state benchmarks as well as select groups, in order to compare themselves to others.
  • Hospitals with a common owner have the ability to compare S3™ data among each hospital to identify trends or common areas for improvement.
  • S3™ helps drive and monitor systems improvement throughout an organization by providing ongoing quantitative feedback.
  • S3™ allows organizations to drill down to certain performance areas so they can compare themselves to others on a well-defined basis.

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What is the source of the data provided by S3™?

S3™ uses data The Joint Commission currently has, which includes past survey findings, ORYX® core measure data, data from the Office of Quality Monitoring (complaints and non-self reported sentinel events), data from an organization’s electronic application and MedPAR data.

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Do we need to provide The Joint Commission with more data for S3™?

No.  S3™ is built from all existing data that The Joint Commission currently has.  Future releases will include an option for an organization to include their own unique internal data though it will never be required.     

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How do we access these reports? How often do we receive them? 

Reports will be posted and updated quarterly on each organization’s secure Joint Commission Connect extranet site, which requires a log-in and password.  The tools allow you to drill back up to eight previous quarters.

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Will this data be made available to the public? 

No, this information will only be made available to organizations accredited by The Joint Commission.

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Is S3™ available for all hospitals?

S3™ is for all Joint Commission-accredited hospitals.  Hospitals will be able to make use of the performance risk assessment and the performance measure compare modules. Critical access hospitals will not have access to the performance risk assessment module as they do not have priority focus process data yet.

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Does S3™ affect an organization’s accreditation status? 

No.  S3™ is not a requirement for accreditation, nor does it have any bearing on the accreditation decision.

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Is there an additional cost involved with S3™?

No. S3™ is provided at no additional cost and serves as a value-added benefit for our accredited customers.

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Will the concept of S3™ be adapted for organizations other than hospitals?

The goal is to eventually spread this concept of S3™ to all of The Joint Commission’s accreditation programs.

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