Frequently Asked Questions

About This Site

What is the purpose of this site?

The TalkingQuality Web site is designed to be a comprehensive guide for organizations that are developing reports for consumers about health care quality. Its goal is to serve as an educational resource for those relatively new to this task, as well as a reference for anyone looking for information on specific topics related to quality reports or examples of different approaches to reporting data. The site also offers a planning tool to help report designers work through all of the steps involved in generating an effective report.

Specifically, the TalkingQuality Web site focuses on the work involved in developing relevant content (text and data), designing usable documents, and distributing reports as effectively as possible. It was not intended to help project sponsors select measures or collect data. For more information about the latter, you can consult the Web site of the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is also one of the sponsors of this site.

Who developed this site?

The TalkingQuality Web site was developed by the Work Group on Consumer Health Information, with the support of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The Work Group was facilitated by the staff of Westat and the Quality Measurement Advisory Service.

What is the Work Group on Consumer Health Information?

The Work Group on Consumer Health Information was an interdisciplinary group of researchers, consumer advocates, purchasers, and government officials. The group convened as part of an effort to follow-up on the results of a 1998 National conference, "Making Quality Count: Helping Consumers Make Better Choices." The goal of the Work Group was to assist both private and public organizations in their efforts to communicate information on health care quality to consumers.

I have a great example for you to include here. Where can I send it?

If you would like to share part or all of your report on health care quality to help your colleagues improve the state-of-the-art, please contact us via: http://info.ahrq.gov.

How to Use the Information

I’ve never worked on a health care quality report before. Where should I start?

If you’re new to quality reporting, you probably want to get a sense of how everything fits together before you dive into the details. To get oriented, start with The Big Picture, which quickly reviews the rationale for consumer reporting and walks you through the major steps involved in putting together a report on quality for consumers. This section also provides an overview of the various activities that should occur in the planning stages for a project like this.

I’ve been putting out report cards for years. What can I do with this site?

If you already know something about quality reporting, there are several ways in which you might want to use this site. First, you can use it to learn more about various aspects of any project you might be in the middle of planning or implementing. For example, if you’re in the planning and budgeting stages, you may want to skim the material in the section called Refining What You Do so that you can anticipate the time and resources you’ll need to test your materials and distribution strategy and evaluate the project at the end. If you’re working on the text of your report, you may want to check out the advice in the section called What to Say, which talks about what you need to explain to consumers as well as other things they may want to hear. Or, if you’re struggling to figure out how to present your data, you could consult the material on presenting comparative results in the section called How to Say It.

Second, you can use it to seek out information on specific topics. The Search function in this site allows you to look up both words and phrases. Another way to find information on specific topics is to skim through the Site Map, which essentially outlines each section by listing all the principal headings you’ll see. If you select a heading that interests you, you can move directly to that section of the Web site.

Finally, you can use this site to get new ideas that you may want to incorporate into your next report on quality. For instance, many sponsors of consumer reports have not been able to focus yet on the need to build awareness of their materials and to support consumers in using them. The section called Into the Hands of Consumers suggests several ways to approach the marketing of consumer information and reviews different strategies for helping consumers use the information effectively.

I need to plan a quality reporting project for my organization. How can this site help me?

There are a few ways in which this site can help you develop a plan. First, you can download a planning tool called the Workbook. The Workbook presents you with a set of questions for you to answer, recognizing that you may not be able to answer all of them at once. The idea is to make you aware of the kind of information you’ll want to have in order to design a successful report. Within the text, you will see icons that indicate topics that correspond to questions in the Workbook.

Under each question in the Workbook is a list of suggested tasks to help you make assignments, keep track of what you know and have accomplished, and focus on what still needs to be done. You can use this list to create a planning document of your own.

The Big Picture section of this site is also intended to help you plan your project. It reviews what you need to do when you start planning a project of this kind and walks you through the principal steps of a typical reporting project so that you can anticipate all the issues that are likely to arise.

How to Use This Site

I’m a consumer who wants to learn more about health care quality. Where will I find information intended for me?

If you are a consumer, the information on this Web site was not really designed for you, although you’re welcome to read it! To learn more about health care quality, you may want to go directly to the following Web sites:

Web Sites for Consumers

Consumer.gov: http://www.consumer.gov/health.htm
Consumer information from the Federal Government.

healthfinder®: http://www.healthfinder.gov
Your free guide to reliable health information.

Healthchoices.org: http://www.healthchoices.org
The National Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA) consumer-focused Web site.

How can I get to different topics?

There are several ways to move around in this Web site.

To get to one of the five main sections:

Use the Home Page, where you will see a list of the main headings with brief descriptions of their contents. You can move directly to a section by selecting that heading.
Use the list of headings that is almost always shown on the left-hand side of your screen. (This list is not available when you are looking at linked text or examples.) If you select one of them, you’ll go directly to the introduction to that section.
Access the Site Map on the Home Page or at the top of your screen, look around to see what’s in each section, then select a link for a heading.

To get to a subsection within one of the main sections:

There are three ways to move around once you are in one of the main sections:

Select one of the headings on the lower left-hand side of your screen. If you see a scroll bar, be sure to scroll down to see all of your options.
Select one of the headings shown on the first introductory screen of each of the main sections. You can always return to this introductory screen by selecting the main heading on the left-hand side of your screen.
Choose to move to the next subsection when you reach the end of the subsection you’re currently reading. You can move to the next section by selecting the "next page" icon.

Another option is to use the Site Map, which is available on the Home Page or at the top of your screen (except for pages with linked text or examples). Look around to find a topic that interests you, select the heading, and move directly to that subsection.

How do I find information on specific topics?

The easiest way to find information on a specific topic is to use the Search function, which is available on the Home Page or at the top of your screen (except for pages with linked text or examples). When you enter a word or phrase, this function will seek out any references to it in the Web site and provide you with a list of promising options.

Another way is to use the Site Map, which is also available on the Home Page or at the top of your screen. The Site Map can give you a sense of all the topics covered in this Web site, so you may be able to find something that discusses the issue you’re looking for even if the terminology isn’t the same.

There’s a lot of material here. How do I avoid getting lost?

One key to keeping track of where you are in this Web site is to rely on the headings on the left-hand side of your screen. As you move around the text, those boxes will highlight the section and subsection you are reading. For example, when you are in the What to Say section, this heading stands out from the others. The color used to highlight this heading is the same color in the box below that shows all the subheadings. As you move to different subheadings, the lower box highlights the one you’re reading.

Another way to navigate this Web site is use the "Back" button on your browser or the "Return" links at the bottom of documents after you’re done with an example, reading more detail on a specific topic, or getting a definition of an acronym or unfamiliar term, to return to wherever you started.

Finally, you may want to refer to the Site Map, which can help you keep track of what you’ve already read and show you what’s remaining in each section.

Technical Problems

I'm having trouble downloading the Workbook. What should I do?

The Workbook is available to download in Microsoft® Word®, Adobe® Acrobat® PDF, plain text, and HTML formats. You can select the format that is most compatible with your system. Links are also provided to sites that provide free "plug-ins" that will allow you to read the document. If you continue to have problems downloading the Workbook, please contact us via: http://info.ahrq.gov and we will send you a hard copy.

I’m having all sorts of technical problems. What can I do?

TalkingQuality.gov was designed to be easy to use and compatible with all major Web browsers; however, technical problems may arise in some cases. Here are a few tips for maximizing your use of the site:

We recommend that your Web browser be at least Netscape 4.0 or Internet Explorer 5.0.
Set your screen resolution to 800x600. This will allow you to see the entire width of the pages in the site without scrolling from left to right.
Set your browser to accept JavaScript. This will allow the navigation buttons to change color; if JavaScript is not enabled, however, the site will still function properly.

I can’t access the examples. Am I missing something?

If you cannot access some examples, you probably do not have Adobe® Acrobat® installed on your computer. Adobe® Acrobat® is free software that will allow you to access examples that are in a format called PDF. Select for PDF Help. However, HTML versions of these examples are also provided.