Stimulating improved patient care: the Joint Commission's Agent for change

Agenda for Change development and testing work now underway will lead to implementation over the next several years of improved accreditation tools: standards focused on key governance, managerial, clinical, and support activities essential to achieving good outcomes; a national database of performance indicators that helps the Joint Commission and accredited organizations monitor and improve patient care and outcomes; survey methods that better assess the organization's engagement in continuous improvement of key processes; and accreditation reports and decisions that are more informative, more balanced, and more helpful in stimulating organizational change. Creating these tools will promote more effective collaboration between the Joint Commission and health care providers in service of the mutual goal of enhancing patient care quality. Successful implementation of quality improvement ideas and methods by all health care professionals is the major challenge for the 1990s.