America's Hospitals: Improving Quality and Safety—The Joint Commission's Annual Report 2015.

Oakbrook Terrace, IL: The Joint Commission; November 2015.

The annual report from The Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals in the United States, serves as a snapshot for quality reporting. This year's report reflects an expansion in the number of quality measures used. About one-third of participating hospitals performed at 95% or above for all accountability measures. The report also found that quality of care has improved over time for myocardial infarction, pneumonia, surgery, pediatric asthma, venous thromboembolism, stroke, immunization, perinatal care, and inpatient psychiatry. New measurements of tobacco and substance abuse care reveal potential for improvement. This report underscores both the power of performance measurement and reporting to drive progress. It also demonstrates that patient safety issues such as medication safety anddiagnosis remain under-emphasized in the accreditation and performance measurement sphere.