President Obama’s signing of the health care reform bill into law marks the largest overhaul of the American health care system since the passage of Medicare in 1965. This legislation begins to address the significant concerns resulting from a growing population of uninsured and underinsured Americans, and the barriers to their access to health care. As the reforms are implemented, The Joint Commission believes now is the time to ensure that the health care system can consistently provide the level of quality that Americans expect by tackling those issues of poor quality of care and lapses in patient safety that harm patients and reduce the value of health care.
The United States has the most technologically sophisticated care in the world, and a cadre of dedicated and skilled health professionals beyond rival. At the same time, there are persistent issues in health care delivery that keep the health care system from attaining the highest achievable levels of quality and safety for every patient in every setting. In order to continuously improve health care delivery, we must adapt to health care those tested quality improvement methods that other industries have successfully used to achieve much higher levels of safety and quality. The Joint Commission is currently working with leading hospitals and health care systems across the country to solve the most critical safety and quality problems. We are accomplishing this by identifying and measuring the most pressing safety problems, pinpointing the underlying causes, and developing and testing targeted solutions in real life situations. As America reforms its health care system, this approach will help realize The Joint Commission’s vision that all people should always experience the safest, highest quality, best-value health care across all settings.
Substantial improvements in quality and safety are an urgent priority that should be addressed collaboratively by all stakeholders. The Joint Commission will continue its work with health care organizations, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, safety advocates, Congress, and others to facilitate the transformation of today’s health care to a system that is highly reliable and provides the highest-quality, best-value care to all patients across all settings.