Foreword

Diabetes Care Quality Improvement: A Resource Guide for State Action and its accompanying Workbook were developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) as learning tools for all State officials who want to improve the quality of health care. Using State-level data on diabetes care from the 2003 National Healthcare Quality Report, this Resource Guide is designed to help States assess the quality of care in their States and fashion quality improvement strategies suited to State conditions. The States mentioned in this Resource Guide gave permission to use their data for illustrative and comparative purposes so that others could learn by their examples.

Many people for whom these learning tools were intended—State elected and appointed leaders as well as officials in State health departments, Diabetes Prevention and Control Programs, Medicaid offices, and elsewhere—provided comments and feedback throughout the development and finalization process. From this process, we learned that they intend to use the Resource Guide and Workbook in many different ways: to assess their current structure and status, to create new quality improvement programs, to build upon existing programs, as an orientation for new staff, and to share with their partners such as the American Diabetes Association.

The Resource Guide and Workbook can serve as a meeting place, where the creative minds of those who struggle with quality improvement can share their expertise, ideas, knowledge, and solutions. The various modules are intended for different users. Senior leaders are responsible for making the case for diabetes quality improvement and taking action (Modules 1, 4, and 6) while program staff would need to provide the information necessary to develop and implement a quality improvement strategy (Modules 2, 3, and 5). The goal, of course, is that all groups of people work on these modules as a team. It is within those discussions and sharing and working together that we hope to achieve what we set out to do—help States improve the quality of diabetes care.

If you have any comments or questions on the Resource Guide or Workbook, please contact:
Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
540 Gaither Road
Suite 3000
Rockville, MD 20850

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