UHPP Quality Watch

The newest initiative of the Utah Health Policy Project, Quality Watch engages local expertise to promote 'best practices' in the delivery of quality, cost-effective, and culturally appropriate health care.  Utah has joined the long list of states considering broad health system reforms.  If Utah hopes to stem the tide of escalating costs, quality improvement must be a top priority.  Quality impacts cost in health care, and cost limits our opportunity to extend access to all Utahns.  Health system reform thus begins—and necessarily never ends—with quality improvement.

Download our new report, Integrating Quality into Utah's Health System Reforms, a collaboration with HealthInsight.

Health reform is not about getting more health care; it is about making sure that everyone has access to the right health care, at the right time, every time.  To make that happen, we have to pay attention to quality of care.  Utah has joined the long list of states considering broad health system reforms.  If Utah hopes to stem the tide of escalating costs, quality improvement must be a top priority.  Utah’s ranking on quality varies, from strong, according to the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ, 2006) to very low (48th) by a recent Commonwealth Fund report.  The different results relate primarily to the specific measures emphasized.  However, the majority of reports rank Utah fairly high in quality when compared to other states.  Still, no matter what measures are used or where Utah ranks, there is tremendous room for improvement.  Here in Utah alone, by conservative estimates, hundreds of people die unnecessarily each year due to the failures and limitations of our health care system.  By building on local expertise and previous successes, Utah can bridge the state’s ‘quality chasm,’ improve health outcomes, and achieve our goals for financially sustainable health system reforms. 

This guide to quality in state health system reform includes the following sections.

1. The Problem: Why Health Reforms Should Focus on Quality

2. Quality Initiatives Within Other State Health System Reforms
   
   
3. Integrating Quality into Utah’s Health System Reforms: Recommendations

4. Conclusion

5. Quality-Related Resources & Links in Utah

6. National Quality-Related Resources & Links

7. References and Suggestions for Further Reading