LOS ANGELES — Health care quality, which has risen for more than a dozen years, has reached a plateau with a number of key areas still at subpar levels, according to a study released Thursday.
The annual report from the National Commission on Quality Assurance says that employers and health plans have shifted their focus almost entirely to the cost of coverage, taking attention away from marked improvements that have been achieved since the group began evaluating health care quality.
“When purchasers are buying on the basis of cost alone, plans naturally follow suit and pay more attention to negotiating discounts and less to improving performance,” the study said. “And the most effective tool — tying payments to performance — is not being utilized enough, especially by the giant Medicare program.”
NCQA said that for each of the past 12 years it has monitored the nation’s health care quality, that “significant progress” has been made. Now, however, that performance has flattened.
Denver Post wire services
