HHS Secretary Leavitt at AHRQ Annual Meeting
Mike Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services,
spoke about the importance of value and sustainability in health information
technology (health IT). He addressed the first annual meeting of the Agency
for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) in Bethesda, MD.
A Video and Transcript are available.
Introduction
On Friday, September 28, 2007, AHRQ's Annual Meeting focused on HHS' Value-driven
Health Care Initiative. The day's content was geared specifically toward
individuals and organizations that were interested in becoming Value Exchanges.
The day began with a joint plenary with presentations from HHS Secretary
Michael Leavitt and AHRQ Director Dr. Carolyn Clancy.
Summary
Secretary Leavitt addressed the critical importance of health care quality
improvement. In doing so, he reiterated the need to build a nationwide infrastructure
to allow health care to function as a system in the way that other segments
of the U.S. economy operate. Secretary Leavitt also described the important
role that consumers can play in driving quality improvement, especially through
the use of information on cost and quality in making choices about their
care. Consumers use of information helps generate incentives for improvement
at all levels of health care.
Finally, Secretary Leavitt announced HHS' commitment to providing Medicare
performance measurement information at the community level in support of
HHS' value-driven health care initiative. Local communities will be able
to use that information to provide a more comprehensive picture of quality
of care for use by consumers, providers, and others.
Video
To watch the video on your computer, select the link below.
If you cannot see the captioning in Windows Media® Player: Press "CTRL + SHIFT + C" (or press: Play > Captions and Subtitles > Captions).
Transcript
Additional Resources
Further information on HHS' Value-driven Health Care Initiative can be
found on the HHS Web site at http://www.hhs.gov/valuedriven/.
Current as of October 2007
Internet Citation:
Value and Sustainability in Health IT. Speech by HHS Secretary
Mike Leavitt at AHRQ Annual Meeting in Bethesda, MD. Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/sec92807.htm
540 Gaither Road Rockville, MD 20850