More than 100,000 Americans die in hospitals each year as the result of preventable medical errors. In fact, more people die each year from medical errors than from breast cancer, AIDS, or motor vehicle accidents. As the primary health care decision makers for their families, women need to know about the quality of the hospitals, physicians, and treatments they choose. Our lives and those of our family members are at stake.
To address the safety, quality, and affordability crisis in the health care system, the National Partnership is advocating for making standardized comparative information available to the public. We believe in policy solutions that increase the transparency of how the health care system performs which will improve both quality and affordability.
Because few incentives exist to move the health care industry toward increased accountability and to advance these goals, the National Partnership has forged a unique collaboration of leading employers, labor unions, and consumer groups to leverage our shared interest and common goal of making our health care system safer and more accountable. We will continue to work toward the adoption of nationally-accepted performance standards for hospitals, physicians, and treatments, so that consumers are better equipped to make informed health care decisions.
Another way the National Partnership is advocating for greater safety, quality, and affordability in the health care system is by promoting implementation of health information technology that ensures privacy and security. Health information exchange is essential for reducing medical errors, improving continuity of care, and accurately reporting performance. However none of these goals will be achieved without consumer trust. Visit our HIT Project page to learn about the issues.
Guide to State Reports on Health Care Quality
You have to make a choice about health care maybe select a health plan, hospital or a nursing home. But where would you turn for information about how the plans and providers in your community are rated on the quality of their care? How can you find this information without navigating endless bureaucratic mazes or voice mail systems? Fortunately, many states have begun to put health care quality information on the Internet so consumers can make better choices.
Now this information is easily accessible in one place. The National Partnership has compiled this Guide to State Reports on Health Care Quality so that consumers can easily and quickly find out what information states have made public. Please visit our Guide to learn more.
The development of this guide was funded in part by a generous grant from Cigna. |
