Joint Commission Healthcare History

The Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and The Joint Commission grew out of a movement, which recognized the need to identify and measure quality health care in the United States. The origins of HEDIS and the Joint Commission may be traced to the establishment of “a minimum standards for hospital care” adopted by the American College of Surgeons as a part of the Hospitalization Standardization Program. The ACS directly linked quality medical care with a quality patient record. The concept of quality measurement came to light when statistician Walter A. Shewhart identifies good processes equal a good product. He further demonstrated a method of measuring the processes by collecting data to be analyzed and measured. Following their defeat after World War II, the Japanese embraced the “quality revolution” and soared as a superpower in the world economy. In the 1980s, American businesses took note of the Japanese business success, and begin adopting “the total quality management.” Quickly the company executives realized they could also apply this management model to health care plans. With funding from fortune 500 companies and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation the National Committee of

Originally The Joint Commission used the “minimum standards established by the ACS” as a guideline for hospital accreditation. The total quality management movement in the 1990s led the organization to adopt more stringent guidelines and measurements in health care. Today the Joint Commission’s performance measurement is considered the “gold standard” in the industry. The Joint Commission offers accreditation to healthcare facilities and certifications of programs and services within health