Newton Warren, Bradley Don
Department of Family Medicine, CB #7595 William Aycock Bldg, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7595, USA.
N C Med J. 2013 Mar-Apr;74(2):119-25.
North Carolina is entering a period of transformative change in health care, as health system consolidation, health care reform, and payment reform combine to dramatically reshape health care. In this turbulent time, maintaining focus on quality of care will be critical. North Carolina has been a national leader in efforts to improve quality of care, starting from classic research in the 1950s on the measurement of quality and culminating in major statewide efforts to improve care through the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers Program, Community Care of North Carolina, the North Carolina Hospital Association, Medicaid, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, academic centers, and many other partners. The purpose of this issue of the NCMJ is to highlight initiatives to improve quality across the continuum of care and across the state. This overview puts these initiatives in context and addresses 3 fundamental questions: Can quality of care be measured and improved? What does the landscape of quality in North Carolina look like now? What should North Carolina's priorities be for improving quality of care moving forward?
北卡罗来纳州正进入医疗保健领域变革性变化的时期，医疗系统整合、医疗改革和支付改革共同作用，极大地重塑了医疗保健格局。在这个动荡时期，持续关注医疗质量至关重要。北卡罗来纳州一直是提高医疗质量努力的全国领导者，始于20世纪50年代关于质量衡量的经典研究，最终通过北卡罗来纳地区健康教育中心项目、北卡罗来纳州社区医疗、北卡罗来纳州医院协会、医疗补助、北卡罗来纳州蓝十字蓝盾公司、学术中心以及许多其他合作伙伴在全州范围内开展了重大的改善医疗的努力。本期《北卡罗来纳医学杂志》的目的是突出在整个医疗连续过程和全州范围内提高质量的举措。本概述将这些举措置于背景中，并回答三个基本问题：医疗质量能否被衡量和改善？北卡罗来纳州目前的质量状况如何？展望未来，北卡罗来纳州提高医疗质量的优先事项应该是什么？
