Press Release
AHRQ RELEASES 2005 NATIONAL
HEALTHCARE QUALITY AND DISPARITIES REPORTS
Quality of
health care for Americans has continued to improve at a modest pace,
and health care disparities are narrowing overall for many minority
Americans. But for Hispanics, disparities have widened in both
quality of care and access to care, according to reports by HHS'
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
The findings are contained in
the 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report and its companion
document the 2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report.
These reports, issued annually, measure quality and disparities in
four key areas of health care: effectiveness, patient safety,
timeliness, and patient centeredness.
The quality
report employs a wide range of measures, including health care
outcomes such as hospital-acquired infections and reductions in
deaths from certain diseases. It also measures how well the
health care system is using specific treatments that are known to
work most effectively. The disparities report compares the
measures by race and ethnicity and by income. It also measures
access to care, using indicators such as health insurance status and
frequency of visits to a physician. This year, for the first
time, the report also shows trends in health care disparities from
year to year.
The 2005 National Healthcare Quality Report finds that
overall quality of care for all Americans improved at a rate of 2.8
percent, the same increase shown in last year's report.
However, the report notes there has been more rapid improvement in
some measures, especially where there have been focused efforts to
improve care.
The 2005 National
Healthcare Disparities Report finds that many of the largest
disparities in measures of quality and access are observed for
low-income people regardless of race of ethnicity, with some signs
of improvement. Overall, more racial disparities in quality of care
were narrowing than were widening, and most racial disparities in
access to care were narrowing (affecting blacks, Asians, and
American Indians/Alaska Natives). But for Hispanics, the
majority of disparities for both quality and access were growing
wider.
"The quality report finds
modest overall progress in quality of care for Americans and areas
where we must continue to work to close health care gaps.
Faster progress is especially apparent where focused efforts,
including public reporting of quality results, have taken place,"
said AHRQ Director Carolyn Clancy, M.D. "It is clear that the need
for action to improve quality of care for all Americans continues to
be great."
**********Examples of findings in the
AHRQ disparities report include:
************** Rates of late
stage breast cancer decreased more rapidly from 1992
***************to 2002 among black
women (169 to 161 per 100,000 women) than
***************among white women (152 to 151 per 100,000),
resulting in a ***************narrowing
disparity.
**************
Treatment of heart failure improved more rapidly from 2020 to 2003
***************among American Indian
Medicare beneficiaries (69 percent to 74
***************percent) than among white Medicare
beneficiaries (69 percent to 74
***************percent) than among white Medicare
beneficiaries (73 percent to 74
***************percent), resulting in an elimination of this
disparity.
**************
The quality of diabetes care declined from 2000 to 2002 among
***************Hispanic adults (44
percent to 38 percent) as it improved among
***************white adults (50 percent to 55 percent).
**************
The quality of patient-provider communication (as reported by
***************patients themselves)
declined from 2000 to 2002 among Hispanic
***************adults (87 percent to 84 percent) as improved
among white adults ***************(93
percent to 94 percent).
**************
Access to a usual source of care increased slightly from 1999 to
2003 ************** for Hispanics (77
percent to 78 percent) and whites (88 percent to 90
************* percent), with
Hispanics less likely to have access to a usual source
**********----- of care.
The report
finds a 10.2 percent annual improvement in the five core measures of
patient safety. These are areas where coordinated national
efforts are underway to improve the delivery of specific "best
practice treatments to improve patient safety and reduce medical
errors.
"In many areas, we know the
specific treatment steps and procedures that are needed to improve
quality. These reports indicate that when we focus on these
best practices, we can make rapid improvement, especially when
results are publicly reported," Dr. Clancy said.
Improvements
were greatest in quality measures for diabetes, heart disease,
respiratory conditions, nursing home care, and maternal and child
health care. The overall rate of change for these measures was 5.4
percent.
Dr. Clancy
said the findings in the report can help target efforts more
effectively to improve quality and reduce disparities. "These
reports are a complex picture of our progress so far. They can
help target where improvement is most needed and help show us how to
bring those improvements about," she said.
The reports
were issued today at the National Leadership Summit on Eliminating
Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health, sponsored by the HHS Office
of Minority Health. The summit marks the 20th anniversary of
the issuance of the Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black
and Minority Health, which lead to new efforts to improve the health
and health care of minority Americans. The reports are
available online at
www.qualitytools.ahrq.gov, by calling 1-800-358-9295, or by
sending an email to
ahrqphus@ahrq.gov.
For
additional information go to:
Health Disparities Affecting
Minorities or
Examples of
Disparities.
228 S. Muskogee Avenue
Tahlequah, OK 74464
Toll Free: 1-866-4NIWHRC
Telephone: 918-456-6094
Fax: 918-456-8128
Email: peiron@niwhrc.org
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