The national healthcare quality and disparities reports: an overview.
BACKGROUND
Congress directed the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to lead an effort for the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to develop 2 annual reports: a National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR) and a National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR).


OBJECTIVE
This article lays out key concepts, definitions, statistical methods, and findings from these first ever national reports on quality and disparities. We also summarize some possible future directions for the reports.


METHODS
The NHQR and NHDR rely on secondary analysis of available data from over 40 established, national databases. The NHQR presents data at the national level, by sociodemographic characteristics, and at the state level. The NHDR presents data broken out by race/ethnicity and by socioeconomic status.


METHODS
The 2003 NHQR presented data on approximately 140 quality measures and the NHDR presented data on these same measures plus approximately 100 measures of access to care.


RESULTS
The reports found that high healthcare quality is not a given and that disparities are pervasive throughout the US healthcare system. In addition, they found the quality and disparities issues are particularly apparent in preventive care, but that greater improvement is possible.


CONCLUSIONS
As these reports evolve for the 2004 version and beyond, they will be a vital step in the effort to improve healthcare quality for all populations in the United States.
Kelley
Ed
E
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, US Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. ekelley@ahrq.gov
Moy
Ernest
E
Stryer
Daniel
D
Burstin
Helen
H
Clancy
Carolyn
C
D000328:Adult; D000847:Annual Reports as Topic; D044383:Black People; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D019992:Databases as Topic; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends*; D003710:Demography; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005544:Forecasting; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012449:Safety; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States; D016270:United States Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; D044465:White People; D001741:Black or African American