Joint Commission offers ranking of hospitals on quality, patient safety

The hospital accreditation board recognized 620 hospitals as top performers based on 45 measures. The rankings reflect performance in 2011.  

Modern Healthcare: Joint Commission Ranks 620 Hospitals As Top Performers On Quality Measures
The Joint Commission has recognized 620 hospitals as top performers in quality and patient safety, up 53 percent from 405 hospitals last year. The designation is based on hospitals' performance during 2011 across 45 accountability measures in areas such as pneumonia care, heart-failure care and inpatient psychiatric services. To make the list, hospitals had to receive a composite score of 95 percent or above on all of the accountability measures it reported to the Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based organization (McKinney, 9/19).

Kaiser Health News: Capsules: Joint Commission Praises 620 Hospitals For Quality
The Joint Commission, the nation's major hospital accreditation board, is releasing its annual list of hospitals that have excelled at adhering to basic procedures for treating common illnesses such as heart attacks and strokes (Rau, 9/19).

Miami Herald: HCA Facilities Lead Top Hospital List In South Florida
Five hospitals in the HCA chain are among 11 in South Florida that received top scores from the Joint Commission, the nonprofit group that accredits the nation's hospitals. The Memorial Healthcare System in South Broward had three on the list. Baptist Health South Florida had two in a report scheduled to be released Wednesday. The 11 hospitals all received top scores in four key quality treatment measures for 2011: for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care, as measured by data collected by the Joint Commission (Dorschner, 9/19).

In other news about health care quality --

Medscape: Best Hospital-To-Primary-Care Procedures Remain Unclear
A systematic review of 36 randomized controlled trials of interventions aimed at improving handovers between hospital and primary care providers at hospital discharge failed to establish any firm conclusions about which interventions have positive effects on quality of care. Gijs Hesselink, MA, MSc, from the Scientific Institute for Quality of Healthcare at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and colleagues published their findings in the September 17 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. According to the researchers, studies suggest that poorly managed hospital discharges can lead to increased rehospitalizations and decreased quality in continuity of care. With the increased movement of patients between various health care institutions, the emphasis on delivery of care in the community, and the move toward shorter hospital stays, there is a greater need for effective discharge and transfer of patients (Hitt, 9/18).