The organization that accredits 80 percent of the nation's hospitals is so intertwined with the industry that it cannot be a rigorous advocate for safety and quality, a consumers group said Wednesday.
"In a large number of accredited hospitals, people are being killed every day because of negligence," said Dr. Sidney Wolfe, director of Public Citizen's Health Research Group.But the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations continues to accredit them because it views hospitals as partners or customers to be kept satisfied, said Wolfe.
He said state governments should do the accrediting, not the commission, which is funded through fees paid by the hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities it accredits.
Both JCAHO and hospitals disagreed with Public Citizen's analysis of the situation.
"Neither health care itself nor its evaluation are perfect processes," the JCAHO said in a statement responding to the report.
But the commission's work has significantly improved quality at hospitals across the country, the statement said.