HHS Releases 2014 Annual Progress Report on National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care

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www.ahrq.gov/workingforquality/reports/annual-reports/nqs2014annlrpt.pdf





This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS) released the 2014 Annual Progress Report on the National 
Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care. The National 
Quality Strategy is an initiative led by the Agency for Healthcare 
Research and Quality (AHRQ) on behalf of HHS. To review the 
Annual Progress Report, click here.

In coordination with the publication of the National Quality Strategy Annual Progress Report, AHRQ also released an update on more than 200 health care quality and access measures for each State and the District of Columbia, known as State Snapshots, which can be analyzed by type of care, treatment setting, clinical condition, insurance status, race, and income. State Snapshots data come from the 2013 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report, which together comprise the Nation’s most complete source of data on the use of health care and health insurance coverage. Trend data for most measures span from 2000–2002 to 2010–2011.

For more information about the National Quality Strategy, go to Working for Quality. To learn more about how your organization can put the NQS priorities into action, download a stakeholder toolkit.

This year’s report highlights:

• Priorities in Action: The National Quality Strategy’s Priorities in Action series captures the vision and motivation of organizations that have put the strategy’s aims and priorities into practice and attained tangible results. This report highlights selected communities, health systems, and organizations that have shown improvement in each of the six priority areas and illustrates how their successes demonstrate the potential impact of National Quality Strategy implementation. • Federal and State Quality Improvement Efforts: Federal and State governments are using the National Quality Strategy as a framework for quality improvement. Multiple HHS Agencies, s uch as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, are using the National Quality Strategy aims and priorities as a foundation to develop their own quality improvement strategies. • Measurement Updates: In 2014, National Quality Strategy stakeholders responded to the need to coordinate and align currently used measures by pursuing measure harmonization and alignment efforts that include the HHS Measurement Policy Council and private multi-stakeholder initiatives such as "Buying Value."