• E-mail
• Print
• RSS

AHA supports Joint Commission's data plan

Accreditation Connection, December 18, 2006

More than a year ago, the American Hospital Association (AHA) criticized the Joint Commission's plan to collect patient-level data and accused it of undermining the AHA's own quality-reporting initiatives, according to a report in Modern Healthcare in its December 6 edition. But when the Joint Commission announced a similar plan last week, an AHA official called it an "appropriate strategy" and well within the accreditor's purview.

Nancy Foster, AHA vice president for quality and patient safety policy, said the difference is that three "touchy points" from last year's dispute have been resolved, according to the report. These points were: concerns over possible violations of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act; possible conflicts with the quality-reporting efforts of the AHA-led Hospital Quality Alliance; and the "context" of the JCAHO's data-collection efforts in light of a controversial and since discontinued venture for its subsidiary--Joint Commission Resources--to sell data to 18 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association-affiliated payers.

"We think this is compliant with HIPAA because it really is about making the data used for accreditation even more reliable and it is the responsibility of the Joint Commission to do that," Foster said. Click here to read the full story. And click here to read a statement from JCAHO President Dennis O'Leary on patient-level data.

• E-mail to a Colleague
• Print
• RSS
• Archive