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Providing quality patient care and clinical improvements
has always been an integral part of the AAMC's tripartite mission of health
care, research, and medical education. The AAMC will continue to actively
work with its members and outside stakeholders to ensure that the physician
workforce can provide patient-centered care to everyone in our increasingly
diverse society.
Hospital
Compare
Members of the Hospital Quality Alliance have launched Hospital Compare,
a new Web site that provides the public with useful, easily accessible
information on hospital quality of care to assist patients, families,
and communities in making important health care decisions.
Quality Provisions
in the FY 2007 Medicare Inpatient Final Rule and FY 2007 Outpatient Proposed
Rule Summary
The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) introduced a new set of requirements
for the Hospital Quality Data Payment Update Program. The DRA calls for
additional quality measures to be added to the program and increases the
penalty for not reporting the hospital quality performance measures from
minus .4 percentage points on the payment update to minus two percentage
points. (PDF, 4 pages - 40 KB)
Hospital Quality Alliance
urges government to approve HCAHPS survey
The AAMC and its partners in the Hospital Quality Alliance
sent a letter this month urging the federal Office of Management and Budget
to approve the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems
(HCAHPS) survey. The voluntary survey, which captures patients' perceptions
of their hospital care, has already been endorsed by the National Quality
Forum and, if approved, will be incorporated into the Hospital Compare
Web site. (PDF, 2 pages - 123 KB)
Hospital Quality
Alliance (HQA)
The AAMC has joined with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and the
Federation of American Hospitals (FAH) to launch an initiative to provide
the public with information about hospital quality.
Quality of Care in Teaching
Hospitals
This report reviews and interprets 23 studies comparing quality of care
in teaching hospitals to other institutions. Studies show that, in general,
teaching hospitals provide better quality of care for a range of conditions
and patients.
AAMC
Keynotes on Health Care
Physician Quality Performance Measurements: Efforts to evaluate physicians
based on their absolute and relative performance are nothing new. Both
the private and public sector began efforts about 15 years ago, employing
various scientific and non-scientific methods. (PDF, 16 pages - 307KB)
Patient
Safety and Graduate Medical Education
This AAMC publication discusses the challenges teaching hospitals face
regarding patient safety. It also provides tools to help members analyze
medical errors and an annotated bibliography on patient safety.
Legislative
and Regulatory Activity
On July 29, 2005, President Bush signed into law the "Patient Safety
and Quality Improvement Act of 2005" [P.L. 109-41]
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