title: Quality assessment and assurance: unity of purpose, diversity of means.
abstract: In this paper I attempt to advance our understanding and appreciation of the several contributions to this anthology by placing their more important features in a unifying framework. In this way I hope to show their historical antecedents, their interrelationships, and their linkages to the central problems and purposes of quality assessment and assurance. But above all, I celebrate our rededication to quality in health care.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Donabedian
mesh_terms: D003258:Consumer Behavior; D004465:Economic Competition; D004526:Efficiency; D005544:Forecasting; D006801:Humans; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010361:Patients / Q000145:classification; D011640:Public Policy; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States