Preach On, Brother!

911Doc over at M.D.O.D. vents about JCAHO and Press-Ganey:

JCAHO and Press-Gainey and ‘core measures’, I submit, are the health care industry’s version of protection rackets. I stand to be corrected so all you fans of JCAHO and Press-Gainey please do comment here and tell me why I’m all wrong, but here’s the essence of my case…

…JCAHO and Press-Gainey are parasites. They are solutions in search of a problem. With rare exception none of the JCAHO or Press-Gainey folks are practicing physicians. These companies have grown eighteen heads and can not be killed. They are feasting off the detritus of the piles of money that get shuffled around in the medicine game. Unfortunately, hospital CEOs and ER group directors have signed on because, I guess, having some information (however shitty it might be), or some way to put intangibles on a graph (and to show the upward trend), is worth something to someone.

A great rant snipped for brevity’s sake, but it’s worth it to read the whole thing.

We have the same thing in EMS, 911Doc. We call it CAAS.

It’s a prestigious little merit badge to have, and many ambulance services pay handsomely for the privilege. It’s not even a bad idea in the abstract.

But having worked for one company that went through their accreditation process, I can say first-hand that it’s mostly window dressing that has jack shit to do with quality patient care.