If the Joint Commission‘s assessment of a hospital is any indication – and by just about all accounts, it’s the indication – hospitals across the U.S. are improving, with more than 1,200 having achieved “top performer” status.
A total of 1,224 made that cut, an increase of 11 percent from last year. The top performers represent nearly 37 percent of more than 3,300 Joint Commission-accredited hospitals that contributed data, according to its annual report.
In order to achieve top performer status, hospitals had to:
— Achieve a cumulative performance of 95 percent or above across all reported accountability measures;
— Achieve a performance of 95 percent or above on each and every reported accountability measure where there were at least 30 denominator cases; and
— Have at least one core measure set that had a composite rate of 95 percent or above, and within that measure set, all applicable individual accountability measures had a performance rate of 95 percent or above.
The data released today show specific improvements in care for pneumonia, chidlren’s asthma, surgical care, heart failure and other “common conditions,” according to the Illinois-based Joint Commission.
A group of 44 top performer hospitals exceeded 2013 expectations by collecting and reporting data on five or more core measure sets – more than the required number of four – achieving top performer thresholds on all of those sets, according to the report.
Despite overall improvements, there is still room to grow.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
“While hospitals achieved 95 percent or better performance on most individual measures, more improvement is needed,” the report said. “For example, hospitals can improve their performance on these measures relating to providing care plans or discharge instructions: creating home management care plans for child asthma patients (88.9 percent performance), transmitting continuing care plans for psychiatric patients (88.3 percent performance), and providing warfarin discharge instructions for venous thromboembolism (VTE) patients (85.9 percent performance).”
The nation’s 124 academic medical centers showed significant improvement, with more than ever achieving top performer status – the number rose from four in 2011, to 24 in 2012, to 35 in 2013.
“This performance is particularly impressive given their size and the complexity of their care delivery processes,” the report said.
And “virtually every demographic category” of hospitals improved, from rural, urban, for-profit, not-for-profit, teaching and non-teaching, across all bed sizes, the report said.
Of the more than 1,200 top performers, 712 achieved the distinction for the past two years in a row, 314 for the past three consecutive years, and 147 for the past four years, according to the report. Another 718 hospitals, 21.6 percent of accredited hospitals, fell slightly short by missing 95 percent performance on only one measure. “These 718 hospitals are ‘on track’ to potentially achieve top performer status next year,” the report said.
There is at least one top performer hospital in each state.
At the start of this year, the Joint Commission increased the required number of selected core measures for which a hospital must submit data from four to six.
Quality, safety and patient satisfaction results for specific hospitals can be found here.
