Patient Mortality During Unannounced Accreditation Surveys at US Hospitals.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

In the United States, hospitals receive accreditation through unannounced on-site inspections (ie, surveys) by The Joint Commission (TJC), which are high-pressure periods to demonstrate compliance with best practices. No research has addressed whether the potential changes in behavior and heightened vigilance during a TJC survey are associated with changes in patient outcomes.

Objective

To assess whether heightened vigilance during survey weeks is associated with improved patient outcomes compared with nonsurvey weeks, particularly in major teaching hospitals.

Design, setting, and participants

Quasi-randomized analysis of Medicare admissions at 1984 surveyed hospitals from calendar year 2008 through 2012 in the period from 3 weeks before to 3 weeks after su

SUBMITTER: Barnett ML 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5558148 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature