Using Measures to Evaluate Care
Health care measures help us to determine whether
services are being provided appropriately and at the right
time.
For example, we know that:
- It is important to check whether a person's blood pressure is high because high blood pressure can lead to heart disease.
- A patient who is admitted to the hospital with a heart attack should be given aspirin and a betablocker.
Clinical performance measures and consumer ratings are
the two main types of quality measures. These measures
are used to check up on and improve the quality of
health care provided by doctors, hospitals, and other
providers, including nursing homes, community clinics,
and health plans.
Most measures described here are from the National Healthcare Quality Report. Both that report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report are published annually by AHRQ. Those reports and print copies of Guide to Health Care Quality—How to Know It When You See It are available from the AHRQ Publications Clearinghouse (phone: 1-800-358-9295; E-mail AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov).
Other Quality Improvement Efforts
In addition to the quality measures and other tools
discussed here and used in the National
Healthcare Quality Report, many other government and
private organizations have developed measures and tools
for assessing health care quality. These include report
cards, consumer ratings, and accreditation reports. Select
for a list of resources on
quality assessment and improvement.
Notes
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Publication Number 05-0088
Current as of September 2005
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Internet Citation:
Guide to Health Care Quality—How to Know It When You See It. Publication Number 05-0088, September 2005. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/consumer/guidetoq/