ABSTRACT
A healthcare organization could be defined by a handful of nonclinical indicators, such as capacity and utilization, and a few clinical indicators, such as mortality, readmission rate, and complication rate. This chapter provides an overview of the major quality standards in healthcare that are sources for clinical Performance Management indicators, including a synopsis of the indicators developed by the major healthcare quality groups. Because of the need for specific clinical indicators that have been validated for particular uses, there are dozens of organizations promoting clinical quality standards. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) are prominent in the United States. England's National Health Service (NHS) and Australia's Victoria Health Service are significant forces in the healthcare quality movement outside of the United States.
