title: Quality improvement by providers: market developments hinder progress.
abstract: Providers report maintaining, but not greatly enhancing, their quality improvement (QI) programs between 1999 and 2001. In addition, recent market developments are intensifying barriers to providers' QI efforts. A notable exception is the tremendous attention to medical errors, which is stimulating patient-safety activities in hospitals. It is too early to tell if the momentum from these activities can be sustained and provide a spark for revolutionary changes in QI more broadly.
authors.affiliation: Center for Studying Health System Change, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Kelly J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Devers
mesh_terms: D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006123:Group Practice / Q000592:standards*; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007193:Independent Practice Associations / Q000592:standards*; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007857:Leadership; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008485:Medical Audit; D009936:Organizational Innovation; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D017751:Safety Management; D013192:Staff Development; D017749:Total Quality Management / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States