Study: Healthcare quality movement stalled

U.S. healthcare quality isn't what it should be, and probably won't be for at least three to five years. That's the depressing--or arguably, challenging--conclusion emerging from a new study by consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. To conduct its study, PwC surveyed 60 of what it termed the nation's most influential healthcare leaders, who seem to agree that healthcare quality improvement efforts have lost their its momentum, despite high-profile successes efforts like the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's 100,000 Lives Campaign.

It's accepted in management circles that you get what you measure--which in theory should apply to quality of care--but it seems that this doesn't apply if there's too many competing measures floating around. When asked about their frustrations, healthcare execs cited multiple quality standards fighting for their attention, as well as mounting demands for performance reporting despite a lack of agreement on how to do this reporting. In response to these findings, PwC is proposing that industry execs come together and develop shared standards focused around quality measurement.

To get more information on PwC's research:
- see this PwC press release

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