Quality of medical care

Abstract

QUALITY OF MEDICAL CARE MAY BE CONSIDERED UNDER THREE HEADINGS: (1) how to describe or define it; (2) how to measure it; (3) how to achieve it.The profession, the health administrator, the consumer, and others, in attempting to define quality of medical care are like the blind men describing an elephant, because of their different viewpoints. Quality is not an absolute but a goal. Measurement is, therefore, piecemeal and judgmental, and various attributes of quality have been studied-clinical, records, economy, effect on health status. One must study to relate the phenomenon measured to the goal. Methods of improving quality are implicit in the descriptions and in the attributes measured. Prepaid group practice is an effective and a growing method of bringing comprehensive health care with quality control to the American people.