Quality assessment and health care reform: the view from the Joint Commission

There has been considerable discussion on the best way not only to maintain current levels of quality but to improve them. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations is uniquely qualified to speak on these issues, since it evaluates and accredits more than 9,000 health care organizations, including 80% of American hospitals. The author presents the criteria for measuring and monitoring health care standards and performance quality, and cautions that any meaningful evaluation process must not only address each facility, but must also evaluate it in the context of the national network as a whole.