AHRQ Quality Initiatives: Driving System
Transformation through Local, Regional
and National Collaboration
Carolyn M. Clancy, MD
Director
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Alliance for Health Reform
Washington, DC – April 15, 2011
National Quality Strategy:
Three Broad Aims
Created Under the Affordable Care Act
Better Care
Improve the overall quality, by making
health care more patient-centered, reliable,
accessible and safe
Healthy People/
Healthy Communities
Improve the health of the U.S. population
by supporting proven interventions to
address behavioral, social and
environmental determinants of health, in
addition to delivering higher-quality care
Affordable Care
Reduce the cost of quality health care for
individuals, families, employers and
government
http://www.healthcare.gov/center/reports/quality03212011a.html
National Quality Strategy:
Six Priorities
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Making care safer by reducing harm caused in the
delivery of care
Ensuring that each person and family is engaged as
partners in their care
Promoting effective communication and coordination
of care
Promoting the most effective prevention and treatment
practices for the leading causes of mortality, starting
with cardiovascular disease
Working with communities to promote wide use of
best practices to enable healthy living
Making quality care more affordable for individuals,
families, employers and governments by developing
and spreading new health care delivery models
All Health Care is Local
 National goals and common standards are important,
but real improvement takes place in local settings…
– HHS AHRQ Chartered Value Exchange (CVE) Program – 24
regional or community collaboratives
– HHS ONC Beacon Community Program – 15 regional
collaboratives
– RWJ Aligning Forces Program – 17 regional collaboratives
– NBCH business-led coalitions – 60 regional collaboratives
 To promote federal-level coordination, AHRQ staff
regularly meets with leadership of these community
based quality improvement initiatives, as well as
QASC, NQF, NRHI, etc.
AHRQ CVE Program:
Opportunities for Strategic Alignment
Within Communities
 Formed in 2007, brings
together 24 community
quality collaboratives
 Committed to mission of
quality transparency and
improvement
 Represents 124 million
lives, more than one-third
of U.S. population
 Involves more than 600
health care leaders
 Purchasers
 Consumer
Organizations
 Health Plans
 Providers
 State Departments
of Health, State
Data
Organizations,
QIOs, HIEs,
Universities
24 Chartered Value Exchanges
Opportunities for
Collaboration and Expansion
Chartered Value Exchanges
Aligning Forces for Quality
Other NHRI Members
Beacon Communities
QASC: March 2011 – Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement
Coming Soon! MONAHRQ 2.0
Measures Results from Hospital Compare and HCAHPS
Enables Public Reporting and Engagement in Less-Resourced Communities
Local
discharge
data
Hospital
Compare
measure
results
HCAHPS
results
Calculate & Report:
• AHRQ QIs
• Hospital utilization & costs
• Regional utilization & costs
Also Reports:
• Hospital Compare inpatient
• HCAHPS measures
Your Own Health
Care reporting Site
States Now Using MONAHRQ: HI, NV, ME, IN
monahrq.ahrq.gov / monahrq@ahrq.gov
Other AHRQ Resources
and Activities
TalkingQuality Web Site (ReRelease)
Model Public Report
Elements: A Sampler
Now Available
Now Available
Methodological
Considerations in
Generating Provider
Performance Scores for Use
in Public Reporting
Coming Soon
AHRQ National Summit on
Public Reporting for
Consumers, March 2011
130 experts are developing
strategies to inform publicand private-sector policies
and practice on reporting for
consumers
Thank You
AHRQ Mission
To improve the quality, safety,
efficiency, and effectiveness of
health care for all Americans
AHRQ Vision
As a result of AHRQ's efforts,
American health care will
provide services of the highest
quality, with the best possible
outcomes, at the lowest cost
www.ahrq.gov