2008 AHRQ Quality & Disparities Reports Lead HHS To Provide $50 Million To Improve Patient Care, Prevent HAIs

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has issued the 2008 National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and the 2008 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR).  The reports measure trends in effectiveness, timeliness, and efficiency of care; patient safety; and patient centeredness, and present the latest available findings on health care quality and access.  They indicate that patient safety measures have worsened and that a substantial number of Americans do not receive recommended care.

The National Healthcare Quality Report tracks the health care system through quality measures, such as the percentage of heart attack patients who received recommended care when they reached the hospital or the percentage of children who received recommended vaccinations.  The National Healthcare Disparities Report summarizes health care quality and access among various racial, ethnic, and income groups and other priority populations, such as children and older adults.

Speaking at the AFSCME Nurses Conference, Secretary for Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius announced that $50 million in American Recovery Act funds would be used to fight health care associated infections (HAI’s) and improve patient safety.  HHS plans to make available $40 million in state grants for HAI prevention and surveillance including strengthening the public health workforce trained to prevent HAIs plus $10 million in state grants to improve  inspections of ambulatory surgical centers.

“Today’s reports show why we can’t wait to enact comprehensive health reform,” said Secretary Sebelius. “The status quo is unsustainable and we cannot allow millions of Americans to continue to go without the care they need and deserve.”  She urged hospitals to commit to improving quality of patient care, and reduce central line associated blood stream infections (CLABSIs) in intensive care units by 75 percent over the next three years.  Secretary Sebelius also challenged hospitals to adopt a patient-safety checklist that has proven effective in reducing the rate of these life-threatening infections.

The AHRQ reports found significant gaps in health care quality, including:

•  Patients do not receive 40% of their recommended care.
•  Only 40% of diabetic patients get the recommended three annual preventive exams.
•  Half of obese patients are not advised to exercise and eat a healthy diet.
•  70% of adults suffering from mood, anxiety, or impulse disorders receive inadequate or no treatment.
•  Minority patients receive disproportionately poorer care.
•  One of seven hospitalized Medicare patients has one or more adverse events.
•  Patient safety measures declined nearly 1% annually for the past 6 years.
•  Hundreds of thousands of patients per year experience central line associated blood stream infections.

To view the reports, go to:  http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/qrdr08.htm. 

Eileen Shannon Carlson, RN, JD