The quality of health care improved by an average 2.3 percent a year between 1994 and 2005, a rate that reflects some important advances but points to an overall slowing in quality gains, according to annual quality and disparities reports released March 3 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The improvement rate, reported in AHRQ’s 2007 National Healthcare Quality Report, is lower than the 3.1 percent average annual improvement rate reported in the 2006 report. It is also lower than widely documented increases in healthcare spending; the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services estimate healthcare expenditures rose by a 6.7 percent average annual rate over the same period.
The report shows some notable gains, such as improvements in the care of heart disease patients. However, measures of patient safety showed an average annual improvement of just 1 percent. Access the reports.
