AHRQ reports continued gains in health care quality

Health care quality continued to improve overall through 2015, with notable gains in patient safety and person-centered care, according to the latest annual report on health care quality and disparities from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. About 80% of the person-centered measures, two-thirds of the patient safety measures, 60% of the healthy living measures and half of the care coordination measures tracked in the report have improved since 2000, the agency said. While 20% of measures showed disparities getting smaller for black and Hispanic Americans, other disparities persist, especially for poor and low-income households and those without insurance, the agency said.