In a study of more than 60 of the nation’s most influential healthcare leaders, PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that the quality of the U.S. healthcare system is not what it should be and is not likely to change within the next three to five years. After two decades of efforts to improve the quality of health care, momentum has stalled at a critical juncture. The analysis finds healthcare organizations are confused by multiple quality mandates and frustrated by mounting requirements for quality performance reporting in the absence of government standards or industry consensus.
PricewaterhouseCoopers called on the healthcare industry to come together to develop common standards and procedures around quality. It warned that failure to act puts the sustainability of the nation’s healthcare system and the nation’s economic competitiveness at risk. “Real improvements in the quality of health care will occur only after incentives are properly aligned around creating value, and performance can be rewarded appropriately,” said David Chin, partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. “But quality is a conundrum because you cannot improve what you cannot measure, and you cannot measure what you cannot define. What’s clear is that organizations can no longer stick their heads in the sand. Hospitals and physicians without a quality strategy will find their revenue and reputations at risk.”
