Health Care Quality

Studies conducted over the past four decades have revealed that the U.S. health system fails to deliver quality health care to a sizable number of the country's citizens. Indeed, a 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that adults received only about one-half of the recommended care for key prevention services, and common acute and chronic conditions. And a 2007 re-evaluation of the RAND Health Insurance Study revealed that quality of care not only did not improve over the 25 years from the initial report in 1978 but that it actually declined. One of the Center for Health Improvement's focus areas is improving quality of care, and our projects have improved health care service delivery, advanced public policy, and enhanced population health. Other CHI efforts aimed at improving quality of care include:  facilitating a quality improvement collaborative; hosting quality forums; performing market scans; developing policy analyses and recommendations; and providing technical assistance to organizations working to improve quality.

Aligning Forces for Quality

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

CHI provided technical assistance for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative. In this role, CHI directed and coordinated technical assistance to help 14 community collaboratives improve the quality of health care for chronic diseases in ambulatory settings by harnessing local market forces. 

Learning Network for Chartered Value Exchanges

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

For the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality, CHI supported the national Learning Network for Chartered Value Exchanges, which began in the fall of 2007 making improvements in eight areas: 1) collaborative leadership & sustainability; 2) public at-large engagement; 3) quality & efficiency measurement; 4) public reporting; 5) provider incentives; 6) consumer incentives; 7) capacity for improving quality; and 8) health information technology/health information exchange.

California Health Policy Forum

California HealthCare Foundation, The California Endowment, and The California Wellness Foundation

CHI modeled the California Health Policy Forum after the National Health Policy Forum. The half-dozen forums held each year in State Capitol provide an independent platform for education, idea sharing, and conversations among legislative and executive branch health policy staff about the complex and vast array of health issues facing the state today. The forums bring together leading experts from California and across the nation for vibrant exchanges on subjects that have ranged from innovative advancements in quality to trends in financing health care to root causes of health inequities.

Health Improvement Initiative

The California Wellness Foundation

CHI conducted a series of seven in-depth statewide surveys assessing the state of health care in California as perceived by Californians. Findings were disseminated through a highly acclaimed series of publications, including Growing Up Well (which provided snapshots of issues pertaining to the health and well-being of California children, adolescents, and parents), Living Well, and Leading Well.

Needs Assessment of Health Status and Health Service Capacity

The Fund for a Healthy Nevada

CHI updated a needs assessment for the Task Force of the Fund for a Healthy Nevada. The purpose of the assessment was to identify the magnitude of select health-related issues in Nevada, the extent to which programs and services are available to effectively address those issues, and the presence of significant gaps in existing services that could be targeted by the Fund.

Resources

"A Checkup on Health Care Markets: Study of 14 Communities Shows Why Quality Improvement Efforts Must Account for Local, Regional Variations," Patricia E. Powers, MPPA, and Michael W. Painter, JD, MD. Aligning Forces for Quality. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Center for Health Improvement. April 2007.

Improving State Health Care Quality, Center for Health Improvement Issue Brief, February 2006.

Leading Well: Californians' Beliefs About Health Survey, Key Findings and Policy Options (2001), California Center for Health Improvement and The California Wellness Foundation.