Making the business case for quality: what do consumers and employers want--and can they get it?

Abstract

As winter moved into spring this year, the debate ratcheted up in the halls of Congress, in hospital corridors, in payer meetings, and in executive boardrooms on the question of what is quality healthcare--and how can it best be monitored and delivered? And, can it be viewed as the panacea to escalating healthcare costs? The answers, it seems, depend on to whom you are talking. Some say more measures are needed. Some say the measures available are confusing. And some say reengineering of the system is what's needed.