Lam MB, et al. – In this observational study, researchers investigated whether patients admitted to accredited US hospitals have better outcomes vs those admitted to hospitals through state surveys, and examined whether accreditation by The Joint Commission offers any additional benefits for patients vs those with other independent accrediting organizations. Participants included 4,242,684 patients aged ≥ 65 years admitted for 15 common medical and 6 common surgical conditions and survey respondents of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Provider and Systems (HCAHPS). They investigators did not observe any attenuated mortality in relation to US hospital accreditation by independent organizations; however, this was found to be slightly related to attenuated readmission rates for the 15 common medical conditions selected in this study. No additional health-care benefits were noted with the selection of a hospital accredited by The Joint Commission vs choosing a hospital accredited by another independent accrediting organization.