Health, healthy living, and physical and mental well-being are important for a productive workforce and a thriving society. The evidence is clear: public health programs have been increasingly effective in reducing preventable causes of death, and research indicates policies that incentivizing wellness and healthy behaviors could result in $19 billion in healthcare savings over 10 years.
As a result, the National Quality Strategy has made working with communities to promote wide use of best practices to enable healthy living and well-being a national priority, proposing three goals for improvement:
- Promote community interventions that result in improvement of social, economic, and environmental factors;
- Promote interventions that result in adoption of the most important healthy lifestyle behaviors across the lifespan; and
- Promote the receipt of effective clinical preventive services across the lifespan in clinical and community settings.
Improving health and well-being across the country requires partnerships between communities and the healthcare delivery system, who can in turn engage with individuals and families. Investment in community infrastructure also is critical to achieving this goal. All communities need active multi-stakeholder groups—with public and private representatives—to come together to tackle the most difficult challenges.
Related NQF Work
- Behavioral Health Measures Project
NQF is currently evaluating a set of quality measures aimed at establishing national priorities for improving the delivery of behavioral health services, achieving better behavioral health outcomes, and improving the behavioral health of the U.S. population, especially those with mental illness and substance abuse.
Press Release | Endorsement Summary
- MAP Report: Measuring Healthcare Quality for the Dual Eligible Beneficiary Population
The diverse dual eligible population includes some of the sickest and most vulnerable individuals covered by either Medicare or Medicaid. Rapid improvement in caring for these beneficiaries would in some ways represent the perfect “bull’s-eye” of achieving the National Quality Strategy goals of healthier people, better care, and more affordable care. Performance measures are central to understanding our progress in improving quality. In this report, the Measure Applications Partnership outlines a vision for high-quality care that seeks to address the fragmented and episodic nature of the care the dual eligible population receives.
- NQF 2011 Annual Meeting
The focus of the meeting centered on how the healthcare system could improve the health of all at the community level – by leveraging changing payment models, emerging health information technology, and performance measurement use and collaboration among multi-stakeholders.
- Perinatal and Reproductive Health Measures Project
In April 2012, NQF endorsed 14 quality measures on perinatal care. The measures address a wide range of care concerns, including childbirth, pregnancy and post-partum care, and newborn care. Several of the measures have the potential to dramatically affect the health and well-being of both mothers and newborns, including a measure focused on hepatitis B vaccination rates for newborns, and a measure assessing the number of babies exclusively fed breast milk during hospitalization.
Press Release | Endorsement Summary
- Population Health: Prevention Measures Project
In May 2012, NQF endorsed 19 quality measures addressing a range of clinical preventive concerns, including influenza and pneumococcal immunizations, and screenings for specific cancers, sexually transmitted diseases, and osteoporosis.
Press Release | Endorsement Summary
- Population Health: Phase 2 Measures Project
NQF evaluated a set of population-level quality measures, focused on several care concerns, including but not limited to body mass index, nutritional and physical activity counseling, and HIV diagnosis.
