The Joint Commission launched the Strategic Surveillance System (S3™) for accredited hospitals in mid-2007. Provided at no additional cost, S3 is a software tool that helps accredited organizations identify and prioritize areas for improvement.
Currently, S3 is being developed for accredited home care organizations (home health only) and long term care organizations. S3 will be “live” for those programs by the end of 2008. The Joint Commission will then evaluate the use of S3 for the other accreditation programs.
S3 is accessible via The Joint Commission Connect, an organization’s secure extranet site. S3 uses data The Joint Commission currently has, including:
- past survey findings
- ORYX® core measure data (for hospitals)
- data from the Office of Quality Monitoring (complaints and non-self reported sentinel events)
- data from an organization’s electronic application
- CMS MedPAR data (for hospitals)
- CMS Nursing Home Compare data (for long term care organizations when S3 is available)
- CMS Home Health Compare data (for home care organizations when S3 is available)
Organizations can use the resulting data and information to drive quality and safety improvements. Reports are posted and updated quarterly on each organization’s extranet site. Organizations with a common owner are able to compare S3 data among themselves to identify trends or common areas for improvement. The data included in the S3 tool is confidential and will not be released publicly.
Performance Risk Assessment
The first tool available through S3 is the Performance Risk Assessment, which provides:
- Comparative performance data at the state and national levels
- Industry benchmarks that can be used to compare and set organization performance levels
- Performance measurement reports that can help support quality and safety improvement efforts (for hospitals)
For more information about S3, read the FAQs about S3, contact your account representative, or send an e-mail to the S3 Team at S3Help@jointcommission.org.
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