Health Care Costs and Health Care Quality "What is the National Quality Strategy?" (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012) and "What's the price of health care?" (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012), both authored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, assist the vital discussion of national health care issues. "What is the National Quality Strategy?" sets forth our government's 3 goals for national health care, supported by six national priorities. Aimed at "Better Care," "Healthy people and communities," and "Affordable care," the Strategy set the six priorities of "Reducing harm to patients,: "Facilitating more coordination and communication," "Empowering patients," "Implementing evidence-based prevention and treatment plans," "promoting health behaviors and environments," and "Developing and using new delivery models." By setting out these goals and priorities in a simple format that can be readily understood by consumers, this article can assist health care policy providers by dissemination to the public and by giving clear-cut steps for the developer's approach to local health care in line with national health care. Simultaneously, "What's the price of health care?" addresses transparency in health care costs, both illustrating its importance and showing several states' attempts to collect and disseminate information about health care costs. By illustrating the importance of transparency and the states' attempts to increase cost transparency while assessing the effectiveness of these programs, this article can assist the health care policy developer in effectively joining the national movement toward transparency by encouraging his/her own state's involvement and by actively improving the quality and quantity of data. Both articles illustrate the value and importance of dialogue about the national Strategy and steps to attain its goals.
Health Care Costs and Health Care Quality
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans, focuses on research, publication and funding. Two of its articles, "What is the National Quality Strategy?" And "What's the price of health care?" focus on several important issues of national health care. By simplifying the explanation of our National Quality Strategy and examining several states' attempts at health care cost transparency, the articles can assist developers of health care policy in their efforts to reduce health care costs while improving health care quality.
Chosen Articles
The articles chosen are "What is the National Quality Strategy?" (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012) and "What's the price of health care?" (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012).
Issues Discussed in the Articles
"What is the National Quality Strategy?" discusses the National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care, also known as the National Quality Strategy, mandated by the 2010 Affordable Care Act in response to the fact that America's increasing health care costs are apparently not resulting in better health care (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 1). Unveiled by presentation to Congress on March 21, 2011, the Strategy established 3 goals for national health care, supported by six national priorities (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, pp. 1-2). The three goals for improving the quality of health care for Americans are: "Better Care," consisting of recommended preventive care, treatment with low harm risk and appropriate testing/management of chronic illness for all Americans (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, pp. 1-2); "Healthy people and communities," targeting behavioral, social and environmental factors affecting health care by implementing programs dealing with such issues as smoking and obesity (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2); "Affordable care," consisting of lowered health care costs by cooperation among providers, increasing transparency and information through provider websites and new structures for payment that reward preventive treatment (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2). The six priorities set to achieve the 3 goals by defining problem areas and monitoring progress are: "Reducing harm to patients" by, for example, improving hospital procedures that often lead to hospital-acquired infections; "Facilitating more coordination and communication" among providers to more easily transition between treatments and educate patients about follow-up behavior and appointments; "Empowering patients" to become more knowledgeable and proactive in their own care; "Implementing evidence-based prevention and treatment plans" targeting common chronic illnesses caused by smoking and poor eating habits, for example; "promoting health behaviors and environments" within communities by screening for risky behaviors and using follow-up counseling; "Developing and using new delivery models" to lower costs while improving treatment quality (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2).
"What's the price of health care?" pinpoints the importance of transparency in health care pricing, given the current very high cost of health care and the fact that consumers are now increasingly required to participate in choosing their health care measures based at least partially on cost (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 1). The article illustrates the difficulty in controlling costs and in making educated decisions due to the secrecy about specific costs, the difference between "retail" and insurance-negotiated costs, and the lack of effective programs to gather and disseminate accurate data about those costs (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, pp. 1-2). Finally, the article illustrates state-sponsored attempts by Washington, Oregon, Kansas, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Louisiana to accumulate and disseminate pricing information through all-payer claims databases (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2). According to the article, these programs are beneficial in that they: cover whole ranges of services; safeguard privacy by concentrating on claims instead of clinical information; promote pricing transparency (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2). The article also claims that these programs are limited in their usefulness because: they usually report "retail" prices rather than actual "allowed amounts"; these States do not actually possess and control the data because the programs are created by state mandate (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012, p. 2).
The authors' Perspectives Compared with Personal Perspective
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