Health Care Quality and Safety Issues

ABSTRACT

Our health-care system is burdened with high costs, health-care disparities, overtreatment, undertreatment, high error rates, and fraud and abuse. At the same time, the United States has achieved spectacular medical advances using the latest technology. As a result, health-care quality measurement, publicly reported patient safety and quality indicators, and evaluation of patients' experience of care are watchwords of a new era of accountability for health-care professionals and organizations. The health-care industry is subject to increasing regulation, private sector challenges, and public demand to make significant improvements in all three components of the quality triad: structure, process, and outcome. This article examines regulatory initiatives and industry trends pertaining to patient safety and quality measurement and concludes with specific suggestions for the professions of speech-language pathology and audiology.

KEYWORDS

Patient safety - quality indicators - pay-for-performance - medical errors

REFERENCES

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APPENDIX A USEFUL WEB SITES

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

• www.ahrq.gov

• The American Hospital Association (AHA)

• www.aha.org

• The American Speech-Language Hearing Association

• www.asha.org

• Bridges to Excellence

• www.bridgestoexcellence.org

• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

• www.cms.hhs.gov

• The Commonwealth Fund

• www.cmwf.org

• HealthGrades

• www.healthgrades.com

• Hospital CAHPS

• www.ahrq.gov/qual/cahps/hcahpfact.htm

• Hospital Compare

• www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

• www.ihi.org

• Institute of Medicine of the National Academies (IOM)

• www.iom.edu

• Integrated Healthcare Association

• www.iha.org

• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO)

• www.jcaho.org

• Leapfrog Group

• www.leapfroggroup.org

• Medical Errors and Patient Safety (AHRQ)

• ahrq.gov/qual/errorsix.htm

• National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA)

• www.ncqa.org

• National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG)

• www.jcaho.org

• National Quality Forum (NQF)

• www.qualityforum.org

• Patient Safety Network (PSNet)

• http://psnet.ahrq.gov

• PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC)

• www.pwc.com

• The RAND Corporation (RAND Health)

• www.rand.org

• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

• www.rwjf.org