According to The Joint Commission’s annual report, the US has seen a steady improvement over the past seven years in patient care quality, the organization said in an official announcement this week.

The annual report, “Improving America’s Hospitals: The Joint Commission’s Report on Quality and Safety 2009,” looks at heart attacks, heart failures, pneumonia, and surgical conditions and provides evidence of improvements made.

“In addition to saving lives and improving health, improved quality reduces healthcare costs by eliminating preventable complications,” Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, president of The Joint Commission, said in a prepared statement. “Quality improvement is an important aspect of the ongoing reform effort to make healthcare accessible to more Americans and ‘bend the curve’ on increasing costs.”

Click here to read more on the annual report.