2009 Health Care Quality and Disparities Reports (posted 4/14)

Improvements in patient safety continue to lag, according to the 2009 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report issued April 13th by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). AHRQ's annual quality and disparities reports, which are mandated by Congress, were first published in 2003. The reports show trends by measuring health care quality for the nation using a group of credible core measures. The data are based on more than 200 health care measures categorized in four areas of quality: effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient-centeredness. "Despite promising improvements in a few areas of health care, we are not achieving the more substantial strides that are needed to address persistent gaps in quality and access," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "Targeted AHRQ-funded research in Michigan has shown that infection rates of HAIs can be radically reduced. We are now working to make sure that happens in all hospitals." To read the press release click here. To download the National Healthcare Quality Report and the National Healthcare Disparities Report from the AHRQ's website click here.

Chapter 3 on Access to Health Care in the National Healthcare Disparities Report has a section on mental health care and substance abuse. "Although the prevalence of mental disorders for racial and ethnic minorities in the United States is similar to that for Whites,31 minorities have less access to mental health care and are less likely to receive needed services. Differences in receipt of services also may reflect, in part, variation in preferences and cultural attitudes toward mental health."

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