Measuring the quality of care: reforming the health care system

Elements of meaningful health care reform must include the ability of patients, providers, and payers to select services offering quality care at an affordable price. To achieve this goal, an appropriate definition of quality needs to be articulated and adopted; data capturing the definition needs to be collected; and appropriate measures need to be selected to analyze that data. Results need to be publically available to assist in making informed choices. The health professions need to fulfill their social contract. And, government needs to ensure that public safety and accountability are maintained and preserved. While the goals and strategies of the different players in the health care arena may be different, there is one thing in common--the needs of citizens must be met through the provision of available, accessible, quality, equitable, and cost-effective health care. These values need to be incorporated into a reform plan. Currently, our ability to comprehensively, consistently, and uniformly perform these tasks is severely limited. While many diverse factors, such as the limitation of financial support and the lack of uniform information systems, contribute to this situation, we believe it is possible through the implementation of a series of recommendations to achieve these goals. This paper outlines the current situation, reviews insights derived from the literature and past and current experiences. Recommendations are made that apply equally to health reform efforts at the state and/or federal levels.