Facts about Quality Check® and Quality Reports

April 6, 2009

The Joint Commission has a longstanding commitment to providing meaningful information about the comparative performance of accredited organizations to the public. In 1994, The Joint Commission published organization-specific Performance Reports. In 1996, the Quality Check® Web site, www.qualitycheck.org, was launched; and in 2004, Quality Reports® replaced Performance Reports. In 2009, the evolution continues with patient satisfaction data included in the Quality Reports of many accredited hospitals.

New in 2009

• Patient satisfaction data:  Information about how patients rate the care they received at a particular hospital is available for those hospitals participating in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) reporting. The information is updated quarterly.
• Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services mortality measures:  Individual hospital 30-day mortality rates for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia.
• National Quality Improvement Goal (ORYX) performance:  Includes rates for three Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) measures ― Infection-4, Infection-6 and Cardiac-2.
• Program level decisions: Organizations surveyed after January 1, 2009, will include program level decisions and effective dates. Organizations surveyed before January 1, 2009, will still display an overall organization accreditation decision until the next on-site survey.
• Certified program information:  A listing of Joint Commission certified disease-specific care and health care staffing firms is available as a Microsoft Excel file and an Adobe .PDF file. To access, click on the Certified Organizations tab and then on the preferred format.

Quality Check® Web site

Quality Check is a comprehensive guide to health care organizations in the United States. Visitors can:

• Search for organizations by city and state, by name or by zip code (up to 250 miles).
• Find organizations by type of service provided within a geographic area. The results can be filtered by type of provider, setting of care or patient population.
• Identify Joint Commission accredited or certified organizations by The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.
• Download free hospital performance measure results by clicking on the Quality Data Download tab.

Quality Reports®

By clicking on the “View Accreditation/Certification Quality Report” link, visitors can view a summary of a health care organization’s performance. Quality Reports are only available for organizations and programs that are accredited or certified by The Joint Commission. The Quality Report includes:

• The Joint Commission accreditation or certification decision and the effective dates of the decision.
• Compliance with The Joint Commission's National Patient Safety Goals (when applicable).
• Performance on National Quality Improvement Goals (hospitals only). These goals allow hospitals to report on key quality of care indicators in up to six treatment areas: children’s asthma care, heart attack, heart failure, community acquired pneumonia, pregnancy and related conditions, surgical care improvement project for infection prevention, and venous thromboembolism. This data is updated quarterly.
• Special quality awards, including recognition such as 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.
• Programs accredited and certified by The Joint Commission, and programs or services recognized by other organizations.