Consumer Guide: Health Care Quality
Not all health care is created equal. Some health plans and doctors do a better job than others at helping you with your health. The choices you make about your health plan, doctors, or care facilities can affect the quality of care you get.
We’re here to help you learn how to notice and measure health care quality.
What is high-quality health care?
High-quality health care means that your provider takes the right action:
- At the right time.
- In the right way.
- For the right person.
- With the best possible results.
How is high-quality health care measured?
There are two main ways health care quality is measured:
- Consumer ratings—These look at health care from a patient’s point of view. They answer questions, such as how well do doctors in a specific health plan communicate?
- Clinical performance and technical measures—These look at how well a health care organization prevents and treats illness. They offer data reports to answer questions, such as do kids get the immunizations they need when they need them?
Where can I find details about quality health care?
The good news is that more and more groups are working on ways to measure, report on, and improve the quality of health care. There are different reports on quality, including performance reports and report cards.
Reports on quality don’t tell you which health care choices are best. They can help you choose which are best for you based on what’s important to you. Select a link from the list of report resources to learn more.
- CheckPoint—Access reports on the quality of care at many Wisconsin hospitals. Includes how well hospitals performed when caring for patients with heart attacks, heart failure, and pneumonia. Also includes what hospitals do to prevent errors.
- Find & Compare Nursing Homes, Hospitals & Other Providers Near You—See how well a nursing home or hospital follows Medicare and Medicaid requirements. Each facility has a quality rating and patient survey rating of one to five stars. You also can check the quality of care at a hospital for certain conditions, such as heart attack or pneumonia.
- Find a Medicare Plan—See if a certain Medicare health plan works for you. Find recent consumer ratings and other performance metrics.
- How Safe is Your Hospital?—View hospital reports from The Leapfrog Group. Search for a hospital to find their safety grade letter.
- National Committee for Quality Assurance Report Cards—See which health plans, clinics, and organizations are accredited. Reports list top performers, ratings, and patient experiences.
- Quality Check—See which health care groups have earned accreditation or certification from The Joint Commission.
- Wisconsin BadgerCare Plus HMO Program Guide, P-12020—Find ratings (out of five stars) for six major areas of care. This tool can help you compare different BadgerCare Plus plans.
- Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, Reports—Find reports on quality metrics for many Wisconsin health plans and hospitals.
- Wisconsin Hospital Association, Price Point—Learn about different hospital service options and prices you can expect.