2025 survey enhancements: New SAFER® Peer Benchmarking tool for accredited hospitals

Have you ever wondered how your hospital’s survey results compare to other hospitals?

The Joint Commission is providing hospitals and health systems with a new benchmarking tool to compare the results of their survey events to their peers during their last survey. The tool is based on a quantitative summary of results derived from survey findings and placement within the Survey Analysis for Evaluating Risk^® (SAFER^®) Matrix. The SAFER Peer Benchmarking tool can help hospitals determine if their performance during a survey is better, the same, or worse than other similar organizations based on size, services provided, and other demographics.

Starting in January 2025, Joint Commission-accredited hospitals will be able to access the SAFER Peer Benchmarking tool via their Joint Commission Connect^® extranet site. Report users will be able to see data only for organizations they are authorized to access. Any other information will not be identifiable or traceable to a particular organization.

Hospitals will be compared to peer organizations based on the primary hospital type, bed size, and location of the organization (for example, academic medical center, 300+ beds, urban setting). In addition to comparing overall survey performance, the benchmarking tool provides the ability to see how an organization scored compared to their peers in key areas such as Leadership, National Patient Safety Goals, and Medication Management. Comparison of how an organization performed relative to similar organizations offers hospitals the opportunity to pinpoint where they may want to focus in the future.

Although healthcare organizations are encouraged to fully use the tool, the comparison data are intended for the exclusive internal use of Joint Commission-accredited organizations, and they may not include the benchmarking data externally in communications, marketing, or other promotions. For example, a hospital may not claim it is “in the top 95th percentile” based on the tool. The Joint Commission will not publish any traceable benchmark data publicly.

For more information about SAFER Peer Benchmarking, contact your account executive.

DISCLAIMER: SAFER Peer Benchmarking is not intended as evidence that an organization provides better healthcare or services than another organization. Users are fully responsible for expert analysis and confirmation that an organization is properly following laws, rules, and regulations related to healthcare quality and patient safety.