Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Quality of Care — What is It?

1996; Massachusetts Medical Society; Volume: 335; Issue: 12 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1056/nejm199609193351213

1533-4406

David Blumenthal,

Health Systems, Economic Evaluations, Quality of Life

Of the many issues now confronting medical professionals, none seems more perplexing than the debate about the quality of care. Just a few years ago, physicians could be confident that they alone had a social mandate to judge and manage the quality of care. Now, that mandate is contested daily in industrial boardrooms, legislative-hearing rooms, and even medical-consultation rooms. The very language of current discussions about the quality of care leaves many physicians tongue-tied and uncomprehending: observed and expected mortality, outcomes and process measures, SF-36, case-mix and case-severity adjustments, profiles, HEDIS measures, control charts, continuous quality improvement, total quality management, . . .