What are the priorities in the Affordable Care Act? Certainly expansion of accessibility to care. But in addition, a high priority has been placed on improving the quality of health care. In large part, the focus on quality improvement involves implementation of strategies, recommendations and research on an extensive scope. DOTmed has reported previously on these measures, but those were just the beginning. Changes will continue throughout the upcoming years. Below are quality and workforce measures to be implemented in fiscal year 2010 and 2011.

Quality Improvement

A) A National Strategy on American Health

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), will be establishing a national strategy to improve the delivery of health care services, patient health outcomes, and population health. In doing so, HHS will be identifying national priorities for improvement. HHS must consider several factors in the strategy, including what has the greatest potential for improving the health outcomes, efficiency, and patient-centeredness of health care for all populations. Other factors include:

-- Identifying areas in the delivery of health care services that have the potential for rapid improvement in the quality and efficiency of patient care;

--Addressing gaps in quality, efficiency, comparative effectiveness information, and health outcomes measures and data aggregation techniques;

--Addressing the health care provided to patients with high-cost chronic diseases;

-- Improving research and dissemination of strategies and best practices to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors, preventable admissions and readmissions, and health care-associated infections; and

--Reducing health disparities across health disparate populations and geographic areas.

HHS will update the national strategy annually with a review of short- and long-term goals. The initial strategy should be developed by January 1, 2011. By that time, HHS will create a website to make public information available regarding the national priorities for health care quality improvement.

B) Improving Access to Trauma Care Center Services

HHS will be providing funding to states to award grants on promoting universal access to trauma care services provided by trauma centers and trauma-related physician specialties. An appropriation in the amount of $100,000,000 has been set for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2015.

Those entities eligible for a grant would be a public or nonprofit trauma center; a consortium; a safety-net public or nonprofit trauma center or a hospital in an underserved area that seeks to establish new trauma services. Some of the activities a grant recipient would need to carry out are:

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