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AHRQ report finds improvements, disparities in healthcare

Patient Safety Monitor Alert, March 3, 2005

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The American healthcare system has improved, but disparities related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status remain, according to reports released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) on February 22.

The reports-which extend the baseline data provided in AHRQ's 2003 reports-measure quality and disparities in effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness.

The quality report's findings include the following:

• Quality is improving in many areas, but change takes time
• A large gap remains between the best care possible and actual care
• Further improvement is possible

Since the 2003 quality report, healthcare providers have made improvements in specific measures, including:

• a 37% decrease in the number of nursing home patients with moderate or severe pain from 2002 to 2003
• a 34% decrease in hospital admission rate for uncontrolled diabetes from 1994 to 2001
• a 34% decrease in the number of elderly patients who received potentially inappropriate medications from 1996 to 2000

To read the AHRQ reports, click here.

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