The Remington Report

Hospitals continue to improve the quality of patient care, saving lives and improving the health of thousands of patients, according to The Joint Commission’s latest annual report on hospital quality and patient safety.

The report looks at performance by accredited hospitals on 31 care measures for heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgery and children’s asthma. Between 2002 and 2008, compliance with the quality measures improved to 96.7% from 86.9% for heart attack care, 91.6% from 59.7% for heart failure care, and 92.9% from 72.3% for pneumonia care. Hospitals also showed steady improvement on surgical care measures, and more than 99% achieved the asthma care measures. “With more than 95% of hospitals now exceeding 90% performance on some measures, we are beginning to see the kind of consistent excellence to which we aspire for all of health care,” said Joint Commission President Mark Chassin, M.D.