describe the benchmarking organizations and make recommendations for leaders in this setting to ensure they meet the specific benchmarking standards.

Introduction
In today’s health care environment, benchmarking is an important and common mechanism to track quality and safety, develop standards, and compare organizations. For this assignment, choose a health care setting of interest to you, such as hospitals, sub-acute rehab facilities, skilled nursing facilities, home health or others, and research two organizations that rank, set standards, or benchmark organizations in this setting based off patient quality and safety.
Instructions
Your assignment should describe the benchmarking organizations and make recommendations for leaders in this setting to ensure they meet the specific benchmarking standards.
Be sure to include the following in your assignment:
Examination of the different benchmarking and standard-setting agencies, and their procedures for conducting surveys and determining compliance for a specific health care setting.
Analysis of national safety goals available through benchmarking and standard-setting organizations.
Evaluation of the benefits and outcomes of continuous readiness.
Assessment of identified risks related to a specific health care setting that could adversely impact benchmarking, ranking, and compliance with external standards.
Evaluation of current policy and procedure to determine if risks are controllable or uncontrollable factors.
Evaluation of how to link health care safety goals to those of the organizational strategic plan to create and sustain an organization-wide safety culture in a specific health care setting.
**ANSWER**
**Benchmarking Organizations for Hospitals**
**The Joint Commission (TJC)**
The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies health care organizations and programs in the United States. TJC standards are developed through a rigorous process that includes input from health care professionals, patients, and other stakeholders.
TJC conducts surveys of accredited organizations to assess their compliance with its standards. The survey process includes reviewing organizational documentation, interviewing staff, and observing patient care.
**The Leapfrog Group**
The Leapfrog Group is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2000 by employers and other purchasers of health care. Leapfrog’s mission is to improve the quality and safety of American health care.
Leapfrog develops and publishes safety standards for hospitals. The Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade is a letter grade (A through F) that assigns hospitals a grade based on their performance on Leapfrog’s safety measures.
**Recommendations for Hospital Leaders to Ensure They Meet Benchmarking Standards**
* **Review and understand the benchmarking standards.** Hospital leaders should review and understand the benchmarking standards that are relevant to their organization. This includes understanding the specific requirements of each standard, as well as the rationale behind the requirements.
* **Develop a plan to meet the standards.** Once hospital leaders understand the benchmarking standards, they should develop a plan to meet the requirements. This plan should include identifying the resources and activities that are needed to achieve compliance.
* **Implement the plan and monitor progress.** Once the plan is developed, it should be implemented and monitored. Hospital leaders should regularly assess their organization’s progress towards meeting the standards.
* **Make necessary adjustments.** As needed, hospital leaders should make adjustments to the plan to ensure that the organization is on track to meet the standards.
**National Safety Goals**
The following are some of the national safety goals that are available through benchmarking and standard-setting organizations:
* Reduce the incidence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
* Improve patient safety in the use of medications.
* Prevent pressure ulcers.
* Reduce the risk of falls.
* Reduce the risk of injuries from patient handling.
* Prevent patient suicide.
* Reduce the risk of transmissible diseases.
**Benefits and Outcomes of Continuous Readiness**
Continuous readiness is a process of continuous improvement in safety and quality. It involves regularly assessing risks, developing and implementing interventions to reduce risks, and monitoring the effectiveness of those interventions.
The benefits and outcomes of continuous readiness include:
* Improved patient safety and quality
* Reduced costs
* Increased employee satisfaction
* Improved reputation
**Identified Risks Related to Hospitals**
The following are some of the identified risks related to hospitals that could adversely impact benchmarking, ranking, and compliance with external standards:
* HAIs
* Medication errors
* Pressure ulcers
* Falls
* Patient handling injuries
* Patient suicide
* Transmissible diseases
* Staffing shortages
* Communication problems
* Equipment failures
**Controllable and Uncontrollable Factors**
Some of the risks listed above are controllable, while others are uncontrollable. Controllable risks are those that can be reduced or eliminated through organizational interventions. Uncontrollable risks are those that are beyond the organization’s control.
**Linking Health Care Safety Goals to Organizational Strategic Plan**
To create and sustain an organization-wide safety culture, hospital leaders should link health care safety goals to the organizational strategic plan. This can be done by incorporating the safety goals into the organization’s mission, vision, and values. It can also be done by making safety a priority in all aspects of the organization, including budgeting, staffing, and performance evaluation.
**Conclusion**
Benchmarking and standard-setting organizations play an important role in improving the quality and safety of health care. Hospital leaders can use benchmarking standards to identify areas where their organization needs to improve. They can also use benchmarking data to track their organization’s progress over time.
By implementing continuous readiness and linking health care safety goals to the organizational strategic plan, hospital leaders can create and sustain an organization-wide safety culture.