National Quality Strategy Released: Healthy People/Healthy Communities One of Three Main Aims

The Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is required to establish a National Strategy for Quality Improvement in Health Care (the National Quality Strategy) that sets priorities to guide this effort and includes a strategic plan for how to achieve it. A new report describes the initial Strategy and plan for implementation with three broad aims to be used to guide and assess local, State, and national efforts to improve the quality of health care:

• 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.