Facts about Quality Check® and Quality Reports

The Joint Commission has had a longstanding commitment to providing meaningful information about the comparative performance of accredited organizations to the public. In 1994, The Joint Commission first published organization-specific Performance Reports. In 1996, Quality Check®, a directory of Joint Commission accredited organizations and performance reports, became available on the website. In 2004, Quality Reports replaced Performance Reports, although historical Performance Reports are still available.

Improvements continued in 2006 and 2007 with a redesign of Quality Check. The process included extensive testing, field surveys and input from consumer focus groups and stakeholders, including four advisory groups and state hospital associations. The feedback was used to refine and clarify Quality Reports for both health care professionals and the public.

Quality Check

Quality Check ― www.qualitycheck.org ― is a comprehensive guide to health care organizations in the United States. Visitors can search by city and state, or by name and zip code (up to 250 miles).

New in 2007

• As of October 1, The Joint Commission’s Quality Check website includes organizations that are not accredited by The Joint Commission as well as Joint Commission accredited organizations. Joint Commission accredited organizations are easily identified by The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.  
• Organizations not accredited by The Joint Commission can request to be added to Quality Check by accessing www.qualitycheck.org/qcdirectory.
• The search function has been expanded so that users can find organizations by type of service provided within a geographic area. Once a service and area have been selected, the health care organizations displayed can be filtered by type of provider, setting of care or patient population. Some of the pre-defined services that can be selected for search are cardiac care, developmental disabilities, dialysis, home medical equipment, neurology, occupational health and optometry.
• The search results page now includes a cleaner display for readability, a special quality awards display, a link to view all services provided at the health care organization’s sites, and links to directions and websites for the health care organization, when available.

Quality data downloads

The Joint Commission provides hospital performance measure results to any external third party for free via Quality Check.  By clicking on the Quality Data Download tab, an individual can download any of the performance measure results available for hospitals on Quality Check. The information can then be saved electronically or printed out. The availability of this data supports the Joint Commission’s commitment to transparency in calculating performance measures. Providing performance measure results at no fee to third parties allows for flexibility in customizing performance measure results for use in performance improvement initiatives and quality of care-related reporting.  

Quality Reports

Quality Reports feature a user-friendly format with checks, pluses and minuses to help the general public compare health care organization performance in a number of key areas. While Quality Check displays demographic and service information for organizations not accredited by The Joint Commission on the Quality Check Search Results page, Quality Reports are only available for organizations that are accredited by The Joint Commission. Quality Reports provide information about a health care organization’s:

• Joint Commission accreditation decision and the effective dates of the accreditation award. For Provisional, Conditional, and Preliminary Denial of Accreditation decisions, the reports will list the standards cited for Requirements for Improvement.
• Programs accredited by the Joint Commission, and programs or services accredited by other accrediting bodies.
• Compliance with the Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals, as applicable to the organization.
• Performance on National Quality Improvement Goals (hospitals only). These goals allow hospitals to report on key quality of care indicators in up to five treatment areas: heart attack, heart failure, community acquired pneumonia, pregnancy and related conditions, and surgical care improvement project for infection prevention. This performance data is updated quarterly. As more measures are approved and endorsed by the National Quality Forum, the Joint Commission will explore ways to incorporate that data in Quality Reports.
• Special quality awards, including recognition such as Disease-Specific Care Certification, Ernest A. Codman Award, Eisenberg Patient Safety Award, Franklin Award, and Magnet status (awarded by the American Nurses Credentialing Center), Medal of Honor for Organ Donation and others approved by the Joint Commission Board of Commissioners.

New in 2008

• Quality Reports for organizations that have pursued disease-specific care certification. The initial reports will include listings of certifications by site and performance against the National Patient Safety Goals.

For more information

For information about Quality Check send an e-mail to qualitycheck@jointcommission.org. For information about Quality Reports send an e-mail to qualityreport@jointcommission.org.

10/07