ABSTRACT
Three automotive companies, specifically Ford, General Motors (GM), and Chrysler, collaborated to help the entire U.S. automotive industry improve quality. Much of the reliability learning comes from the Automotive Industry Action Group (AIAG) manuals.*
In healthcare, there has not emerged such a unifying force. We owe much to The Joint Commission (TJC) for pioneering and authoring many of the standards that are used today in virtually every hospital. CMS adopted its standards when Medicare was introduced, which makes its conditions of participation (CoPs) and TJC’s standards very similar. They have grown to be more similar again after TJC was required to conform to the CoPs after the statute was eliminated allowing it accreditation rights by statute. I have grown appreciation for TJC’s research and energy to create and share practices that improve quality.
