Envisioning the National Health Care Quality Report (2001) / Chapter Skim
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Designing the National Health Care Quality Report
Designing the National Health Care Quality Report
Pages 139-158
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From page 139... ...
RECOMMENDATION RECOMMENDATION 10: The National Health Care Quality Report should be produced in several versions tailored to key audiences policy makers, consumers, purchasers, providers, and researchers. It should feature a limited number of key findings and the minimum number of measures needed to support these findings.
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From page 140... ...
In contrast, measures included in the Quality Report may vary from year to year based on the key findings selected, although some will be repeated from time to time to show changes in specific aspects of quality over time. The report should not overwhelm either general or specialized audiences with information about health care quality.
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Researchers. To the extent possible, researchers should have access to Quality Report data on the Web to develop new measures, refine existing ones, examine quality of care, and otherwise contribute to the dialogue on health care quality.
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From page 142... ...
Audience testing can also be used to fine-tune the wording of headlines, as discussed later in this chapter. Some examples of findings in headline format include the following: "Providers are getting patients more involved in their care"; "The nation is paying less attention to the importance of preventing condition X"; "Patients are less likely to wait for care in regions A and B"; and "The nation is giving the dying poorer-quality care now than before." Findings could focus on a variety of aspects related to health care quality, including areas that .
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From page 143... ...
It should be noted that most of these guidelines should make the report more appealing to all audiences. There will be policy makers and other specialists who are so highly engaged in the issue of health care quality that they will read the report and find it useful, almost no matter what form it takes.
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From page 144... ...
AHRQ should also evaluate 1be need far and ~asibUiV of making 1be report available in other languages to increase access by He lamest non-Englisb-speaking populations in He Unked States. The Web ~ a flexible enough medium to easily contain versions of 1be repod far bow generahs~ and specials.
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From page 145... ...
Including audio and video components for the web-based reports would make them more appealing to a general audience and more accessible to those with limited health literacy (that is, the ability to read, understand, and act on health care information) (American Medical Association, Ad Hoc Committee on Health Literacy for the Council on Scientific Affairs, 1999~.
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. States with performance ranging from adequate to good in all seven measures of diabetes care would have seven stars and would pop out immediately to the reader and be easy to identify.
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These could include news events on certain quality concerns; public interest in particular health conditions; the policy agendas of administrations, congressional leaders, governors, and others; and findings from other government reports (Rushefsky and Patel, 1998~. Adding Salience to the Issue of Health Care Quality A data-driven report on health care quality could easily be one of those important, but dry, documents that gets little attention.
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From page 148... ...
featuring case studies of institutions that have improved the quality of their health care delivery. Including narratives to illustrate information also presented in statistical form can add salience to specific aspects of health care quality and make them more meaningful.
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. A negative frame has another advantag p highlights negative events or outcomes (Graber, 1997~.
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for ways in which these publications can remain distinctive from year to year. AUDIENCE TESTING THE NATIONAL HEALTH CARE QUALITY REPORT Audience Testing Before Report Releases It is essential that AHRQ conduct audience research in writing and producing the report: each release needs the kind of specific feedback that can come only from testing it with the kinds of people who are likely to use it (Backer et al., 1992; McGee et al., 1999; Rubin, 1994~.
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Are there specific policy changes that it helped to bring about? Is public opinion on health care quality different as a result of the report?
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From page 152... ...
For an example of media attention to a similar national report on health care quality, see Box 5.5. Communication Channels To reach national, state, and local consumers, policy makers, and other audiences, the Quality Report must attract attention from many levels of print, broadcast, and electronic media or communication channels.
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From page 153... ...
Other newsworthy events could include public speeches, celebrity appearances, congressional hearings, and issue conferences on subjects that the report highlights (Corbett and Mori, 1999~. AHRQ could also issue report updates that can be summarized in print form and placed on the Web.
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From page 154... ...
They may also attract resources that could include guest speakers, opinion articles, journal articles, and video programming (Weinreich, 1999~. An important way to keep the Quality Report in the public eye would be to use the capacity of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
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From page 155... ...
In a report on complex, visible, and highly important issues such as national health care quality, there will be inevitable pressure to make it as comprehensive as possible in the hope of reaching as many people on as many subjects as possible. However, a strong body of evidence shows that a selective focus on the most important topics will be a far more effective means of communication.
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1998. How Pennsylvania hospitals have responded to publicly released reports on coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
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1999. Health maintenance organization report cards: communication strategies versus consumer abilities.
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1996. Fact Sheet: Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 [on-line]
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