[EQ] US Health Care Quality, Disparity Reports

National Healthcare Disparities Report

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

AHRQ Publication No. 10-0004 March 2010 www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09.htm

Full Report (PDF 302p. - 5.7 MB) at:  http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr09/nhdr09.pdf

“……Examining health care disparities is an integral part of improving health care quality. Health care disparities are the differences or gaps in care experienced by one population compared with another population. As the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) shows, Americans too often do not receive care that they need or they receive care that causes harm.

The National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) shows that some Americans receive worse care than other Americans. Within the scope of health care delivery, these disparities may be due to differences in access to care, provider biases, poor provider-patient communication, poor health literacy, or other factors….”

“….The purpose of the NHDR, as mandated by Congress,i is to identify the differences or gaps where some populations receive poor or worse care than others and to track how these gaps are changing over time. Although the emphasis is on disparities related to race and socioeconomic status, the reporting mandate indicates an expectation that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) will examine health care disparities across broadly defined “priority populations.” These include ethnic minorities and other groups or categories of individuals experiencing disparate and inadequate health care.

The NHDR and NHQR use the same measures, which are categorized across four dimensions of quality: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness. This year’s report focuses on the state of health care disparities for a group of “core” measuresii that represent the most important and scientifically credible measures of health care quality for the Nation, as selected by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Interagency Work Group.iii By focusing on core measures, the 2009 report provides a more readily understandable summary and explanation of the key results derived from the data.iv

Three key themes emerge in the 2009 NHDR:
-  Disparities are common and uninsurance is an important contributor
-  Many disparities are not decreasing.
- Some disparities merit particular attention, especially care for cancer, heart failure, and pneumonia…..”

Content:

Highlights

1. Introduction and Methods
2. Effectiveness.

Cancer
Diabetes.
EndStage RenalDisease(ESRD).
HeartDisease .
HIVandAIDS Maternal and Child Health.
Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
Respiratory Diseases.
LifestyleModification .
FunctionalStatusPreservationand Rehabilitation
Supportive and Palliative Care

3. Patient Safety
4. Timeliness

5. Patient Centeredness

6. Efficiency .

Appendixes:

Data Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09/datasources/index.html
Detailed Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09/methods/index.html
Measure Specifications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09/measurespec/index.html
Data Tables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr09/index.html

National Healthcare Quality Report

Full Report ( 157p. - 5.7 MB) at:  http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhqr09/nhqr09.pdf

Secretary Kathleen Sebelius Statement on New Health Care Quality, Disparity Reports
Tue, 13 Apr 2010

“….HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius issued the following statement on new reports on health care quality and health care disparities faced by racial, ethnic or income groups. The new reports –  the 2009 National Healthcare Disparities Report and the National Healthcare Quality Report – were released April 13, 2010 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality….”

 

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