The case studies featured in Quality Profiles demonstrate multiple ways to conduct successful quality initiatives, and are organized into five sections:
| CHRONIC ILLNESS |
| If the profiles in the following section make one thing clear, it is that health organizations are becoming more sophisticated and more diversified in their efforts to address the needs of patients with chronic conditions. Recent QI activities around asthma, diabetes, heart disease and overuse of antibiotics - not a chronic illness, but a chronic problem with long term implications - show a new intensity. Increasingly, measures are becoming more comprehensive, data sources are more varied, and interventions go beyond birthday reminders and patient newsletters (though these remain important). |
| WOMEN'S HEALTH |
| If one theme emerges in the following profiles about women's health, it is that ignorance is the enemy. Misconceptions about the need for mammograms, or the value of prenatal vitamins, for example, remain in many cases the biggest barriers to better care for women. We are getting more sophisticated at reaching and educating patients, but there is still much room for improvement. |
| PREVENTIVE CARE |
| Primary and secondary prevention are certainly critical activities for any successful managed care organization, and are at the core of the philosophy of managed care itself. The idea that it is better for the patient, as well as for the fiscal health of an organization, to prevent illness or detect and treat it at an early stage is fundamental to the concept of the HMO. This tenet is still central to the thinking of policy makers, insurers, employers and public health professionals concerned with extracting the most value from our nation's health care dollars. |
| BEHAVIORAL HEALTH |
| Improving the quality of behavioral health care has been a priority for NCQA since the early days of HEDIS, but targeted efforts have certainly accelerated since the launch of an accreditation program for managed behavioral healthcare organizations. As we remarked in the first edition of QUALITY PROFILES, behavioral health conditions have a tremendous impact not only on those affected and their families, but also on their productivity as employees. Yet our health care system faces enormous challenges in affecting meaningful improvements in this vital area. |
| SERVICE |
| Even in the short time since the release of the first edition of QUALITY PROFILES, patient satisfaction with care and service has moved to a more central place in most organizations' thinking about quality improvement. |
