For the ninth year in a row, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has produced the National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report.
The National Healthcare Quality Report tracks the U.S. healthcare providers' performance on quality measures, such as the percentage of heart attack patients who received recommended care when they reached the hospital or the percentage of children who received recommended vaccinations. The National Healthcare Disparities Report summarizes healthcare quality and access among various racial, ethnic and income groups and other priority populations, such as residents of rural areas and people with disabilities.
Four themes from the 2011 NHQR and NHDR emphasize the need to accelerate progress if the country is to achieve higher quality and more equitable healthcare in the near future:
1. Healthcare quality and access are suboptimal, especially for minority and low-income groups.
2. Quality is improving; access and disparities are not improving.
3. Urgent attention is warranted to ensure continued improvements in quality and progress on reducing disparities with respect to certain services, geographic areas and populations.
4. Progress is uneven with respect to national priorities identified in the National Quality Strategy and the Disparities Action Plan.
Print versions of the reports will be available in late April or early May. Online access to these reports can be found here.
The National Healthcare Quality Report tracks the U.S. healthcare providers' performance on quality measures, such as the percentage of heart attack patients who received recommended care when they reached the hospital or the percentage of children who received recommended vaccinations. The National Healthcare Disparities Report summarizes healthcare quality and access among various racial, ethnic and income groups and other priority populations, such as residents of rural areas and people with disabilities.
Four themes from the 2011 NHQR and NHDR emphasize the need to accelerate progress if the country is to achieve higher quality and more equitable healthcare in the near future:
1. Healthcare quality and access are suboptimal, especially for minority and low-income groups.
2. Quality is improving; access and disparities are not improving.
3. Urgent attention is warranted to ensure continued improvements in quality and progress on reducing disparities with respect to certain services, geographic areas and populations.
4. Progress is uneven with respect to national priorities identified in the National Quality Strategy and the Disparities Action Plan.
Print versions of the reports will be available in late April or early May. Online access to these reports can be found here.
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