Agency News and Notes

AHRQ director issues quality challenge at national summit and announces State-specific quality data

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality brought together nearly 250 health professionals, policymakers, health systems decisionmakers, and others on April 4, for a national summit on improving health care for all Americans. The meeting was designed to showcase successful national, regional, and local efforts to improve health care quality and reduce racial and ethnic disparities. At the meeting, AHRQ director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., urged leading health care experts to work together to accept a new quality challenge: applying what we know about best practices and what works toward achieving a "quality" future for U.S. health care.

During the summit, Dr. Clancy announced the release of State-level health care quality data compilations based on the congressionally mandated 2004 National Healthcare Quality Report, which was developed and released by AHRQ earlier this year. The data are designed to help State health officials more easily identify areas where they are doing well and areas where quality improvement is needed. See the next issue of Research Activities (May 2005) for more information on these State-level data compilations.

The full text and video of Dr. Clancy's speech at the national summit, "Improving Health Care for All Americans: Celebrating Success, Measuring Progress, Moving Forward," and a summary of the meeting are now available on the AHRQ Web site. Select for more information about the summit and to access Dr. Clancy's remarks.

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