The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC) has released the 2026 AAAHC Quality Roadmap, offering ambulatory health care organizations in-depth benchmarking data, actionable compliance guidance, and targeted quality improvement (QI) strategies based on accreditation survey findings from January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025.
New for 2026, AAAHC provides the Quality Roadmap in two formats: a comprehensive version covering a broad range of ambulatory care settings and a dedicated primary care version featuring targeted findings and insights specific to primary care organizations.
The report includes survey performance results from both v43.1 and v44 AAAHC Standards, with all findings mapped to the current v44 Standards framework to improve consistency, comparability, and usability of the 2026 Quality Roadmap data. The updated approach leverages AAAHC’s robust 1095 Engage platform to provide organizations with a clearer, more consolidated view of accreditation performance trends and QI priorities.
“The 2026 Quality Roadmap reflects a more precise, data-driven approach to supporting ambulatory care organizations,” said Noel Adachi, MBA, president, and CEO of AAAHC. “We wanted to provide meaningful benchmarks that support our clients, strengthen their focus on the quality and safety of care delivered to patients, and stay 1095 Strong.”
The comprehensive Quality Roadmap highlights top accreditation deficiencies by program, facility type, and key AAAHC Standards categories, including Facilities and Equipment (FAC), Medication Management (MED), and Quality (QUA). The report also delivers compliance guidance directly from experienced AAAHC Surveyors, with continued focus on critical areas such as Life Safety Code® findings and Medicare Deemed Status (MDS) requirements.
The new primary care version of the report provides targeted insights for primary care organizations and outlines high-deficiency areas in categories including Emergency Management (EMG), Infection Prevention and Control (IPC), and Quality (QUA).
The comprehensive report features a dedicated section on Immediate Jeopardy (IJ) findings, offering insights, recommendations, and key takeaways related to the most serious patient safety concerns identified during AAAHC surveys.
“We’re giving ambulatory care leaders clearer visibility into the risks and opportunities most relevant to their environment, so care teams can take more focused, effective next steps,” said Julie Lynch, MS, BSN, RN, director, Institute for Quality Improvement (IQI). “AAAHC designed both reports to help teams move from awareness to action.”
The 2026 Quality Roadmap serves as a consultative resource to help ambulatory care organizations strengthen compliance, improve quality every day, and reinforce that accreditation is a continuous 1,095-day journey rather than a point-in-time survey event.
Organizations can use the findings to better understand common deficiencies and compare results against their most recent onsite survey report and annual self-assessment, guide reviews of policies, procedures, and operational practices to align with current AAAHC Standards. Alongside both reports, ambulatory care teams can leverage AAAHC IQI Toolkits, Benchmarking Studies, and other QI resources to support patient and team safety initiatives and share insights across teams to drive QI studies, corrective actions, and operational decision-making.
The comprehensive and primary care versions of the 2026 AAAHC Quality Roadmap are now available for complimentary download at https://www.aaahc.org/QR2026.
