The Joint Commission released its first list of top hospitals, using metrics meant to track quality of care. The list skewed small and rural hospitals. The metrics measure how well hospitals carry out processes of care that the group thinks should be standard for all patients with certain diagnoses. Examples include giving a person who is having a heart attack aspirin upon arrival at the hospital or the use of corticosteroids in children admitted with asthma.
The ratings used 22 measures in five categories — heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care, and children’s asthma — but not all hospitals report their results on all measures to the commission. To be included on the list of 405 top hospitals, a hospital had to meet each of the measures it reports 95 percent of the time.
Download the full report here.