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Health Care Costs And Health Care Quality Data Analysis Chapter

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...

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,…

Sources used in this document:
The authors' Perspectives Compared with Personal Perspective

Both "What is the National Quality Strategy" and "What's the price of health care?" are authored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Robert Wood Johnson II of Johnson & Johnson, a global leader in health care products manufacturing and dedicated to improving the health and health care of Americans through research, publications and grants (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2012). The American Beverage Institute (Doyle, 2003) and the Center for Consumer Freedom (Center for Consumer Freedom, 2007) both criticize the Foundation for being anti-alcohol. However, from the perspective of a health care provider, the perspective of a major health care products manufacturer that is anti-alcohol -- even if the accusation is true - is not particularly troubling, for two reasons: neither article addresses only alcohol per se; alcohol consumption is, in fact, a significant contributor to health care problems in the United States (National Institutes of Health, 2012), so a foundation addressing health care concerns would tend to include alcohol in its discussions.

"What is the National Quality Strategy?" mirrors the basic elements disseminated by governmental publications (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012) while simplifying the explanations for general
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