Insurance Coverage & Costs
Access to Care
Quality & Care Delivery
Health Care Markets
Employers/Consumers
Health Plans
Hospitals
Physicians
Issue Briefs
Data Bulletins
Research Briefs
Policy Analyses
Community Reports
Journal Articles
Other Publications
Surveys
Site Visits
Design and Methods
Data Files
The Impact of Quality-Reporting Programs on Hospital Operations
September/October 2006
Health Affairs, Vol. 25, No. 5
Hoangmai H. Pham, Jennifer Coughlan, Ann S. O'Malley
This article uses data from the 2005–06 Community Tracking Study site visits to examine the impact of quality reporting on hospitals’ data collection and review processes, feedback and accountability mechanisms, quality improvement activities, and resource allocation. Individual hospitals participate in multiple, varied reporting programs with distinct effects on hospital operations. Reporting programs play complementary roles in encouraging quality improvement but are poorly coordinated and command sizable resources, in large part because of inadequate information technology. Policy should be directed at encouraging formal assessments of how individual and combinations of programs affect quality outcomes, and the development of adaptable information systems.
This article is available at the Health Affairs Web site by clicking here. (Free access.)
