Joint Commission Accreditation Portends Higher Quality of Care

Hospital accreditation is increasingly used by payors, patients, and providers to identify healthcare organizations committed to advancing patient safety and quality of care. The Joint Commission (TJC) accredits more than 80% of the nation's hospitals; however, evidence that such accreditation improves hospital quality of care is limited.

In a recent retrospective, cross-sectional study, researchers examined performance for 2004 and 2008 on 16 publicly reported process-of-care measures (all related to acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, and pneumonia) at nearly 3900 accredited and nonaccredited acute care and critical access hospitals in the U.S. Most of the researchers were TJC employees.

In 2004, accredited hospitals performed signi…