In September 2010 the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) requested public input for the development of a National Health Care Quality Strategy and Plan. HHS is seeking feedback around a framework for developing the National Quality Strategy, including the identification of guiding principles, and specific priorities and goals; strategies for stakeholder engagement; and States’ needs for implementation.
Under contract to provide input to the HHS Secretary on the National Quality Strategy, the National Priorities Partnership (NPP) put forth its recommendations on priorities and goals in a report submitted to HHS on October 14, 2010. NPP proposes the inclusion of its original six priority areas—patient and family engagement, population health, safety, care coordination, palliative and end-of-life care, and elimination of overuse—and recommends augmenting these six priorities with two additional areas of focus particularly relevant in this era of health reform: equitable access to ensure that all patients have access to affordable, timely, and high-quality care; and infrastructure supports (e.g., health information technology) to address underlying system changes that will be necessary to attain the goals of the other priority areas.
Read the National Priorities Partnership’s (NPP) guidance for responding to HHS’s request for public feedback which was prepared in response to the request of many stakeholders interested in aligning their input with that of the NPP.
