On September 22, the Joint Commission’s release of its annual report on hospital quality and safety showed steep improvements on evidence-based patient outcomes. And ensuring the best patient outcomes has been the intent of the Joint Commission since 1986. Link to the press release here.

Similarly, improved patient outcomes is the holy grail of healthcare IT and the HITECH Act. Indeed, improved reporting standards have helped measure more accurately those accountability benchmarks established by the JC. Ergo, the more ubiquitous HIT, the more consistent the evidence can be recorded, the more accurate the calculations, and the more trusted the numbers. So HIT contributes significantly to the content of such reports and the credibility of each, and ultimately, to improved patient outcomes.

And that’s a good thing. Follow this link to read The Executive Summary of the JC’s 2010 report on improving America’s hospitals.