Patient Safety and Health Information Technology E-Newsletter

April 5, 2005, Issue No. 7

Quote of the Month

AHRQ Director Announces New QualityConnect Technical Assistance Program for States

"I'm committing $1 million this year to a new initiative—AHRQ QualityConnect—to help uncover what works and share 'lessons learned' with those on the front line of improvement."

—Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., Director, AHRQ, in remarks at AHRQ's April 4 National Summit on "Improving Health Care for All Americans."

Quality Challenge Issued at National Summit

Yesterday, AHRQ brought together nearly 250 health professionals, policymakers, purchasers, health systems decisionmakers, and others for its national summit on "Improving Health Care for All Americans: Celebrating Success, Measuring Progress, Moving Forward." At the meeting, held in Washington, DC, AHRQ Director Carolyn 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 American health care. This would ensure that "every dollar we invest in health care buys a dollar's worth of value... so that Americans don't just have the best health care in the world, they actually get the best quality health care, consistently, in their own hospitals and physicians' offices," Dr. Clancy said.

At the meeting, AHRQ announced the release of State-level health care quality data compilations based on the congressionally mandated 2004 National Healthcare Quality Report to help State health officials more easily identify areas where they are doing well and those where quality improvement is necessary.

The full text and video (please note the system requirements to view the video) of Dr. Clancy's speech, along with a summary of the meeting—which showcased successful national, regional, and local efforts to improve health care quality and reduce racial and ethnic disparities—are now available on AHRQ's Web site.

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Current as of April 2005

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Internet Citation:

Patient Safety E-Newsletter. April 5, 2005, Issue No. 7. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/ptsnews/ptsnews7.htm

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