The 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) is a comprehensive national overview of quality of health care in the United States. It is organized around four dimensions of quality of care—effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness. Those dimensions cover the four stages of care from the patient perspective (staying healthy, getting better, living with illness and disability, and coping with the end of life).
The 2006 NHQR includes 211 performance measures that can be used to monitor
the Nation's progress toward improved health care quality for all Americans.
This year's report focuses on a group of 42 "core" measures representing the
most important and scientifically sound measures of quality. (Measures of access
to care are covered in the companion 2006 National
Healthcare Disparities Report.)
The report presents, in chart format, the latest available findings on the quality of health care in the general U.S. population, focusing on effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness.
The 2006 NHQR includes a report and two online appendixes:
Print copies of the 2006 NHQR can be obtained from the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse by calling 1-800-358-9295 or by sending an E-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov. Ask for the 2006 National Healthcare Quality Report (AHRQ Publication No. 07-0013).
Current as of June 2007
Internet Citation:
National Healthcare Quality Report, 2006. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr06/nhqr06.htm