There was some progress in healthcare quality and a reduction in disparities in children's healthcare quality from 2000 to 2009, according to an abstract of a new AHRQ study in the March/April issue of Academic Pediatrics.
The authors of “Child and Adolescent Healthcare Quality and Disparities: Are We Making Progress?” identified 39 measures with sufficient data to analyze trends in disparities in quality from AHRQ's 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report and 2011 National Healthcare Disparities Report.
They looked at comparison groups within those measures and found that 126 comparisons showed no change, eight improved and three worsened.
The authors concluded: “There was some progress in healthcare quality and reducing disparities in children's healthcare quality from 2000 to 2009; opportunities for targeting improvement strategies remain.”
AHRQ, Academic Pediatrics, 2011 National Healthcare Quality Report, 2011 National Healthcare Disparities Report
