The message of quality eludes political, hospital leaders

For anyone who's been hiding under a rock since Saturday night, the House of Representatives passed a "healthcare reform" bill this weekend. Liberals may find cause to celebrate, conservatives a reason to lament, but let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet. I put that term in quotation marks because what passed is mostly insurance reform and certainly not comprehensive. The same legislation also faces an uphill battle in the Senate, then the two houses have to reconcile their bills and vote on a joint compromise before anything ever finds its way to the president's desk.

As I've mentioned more times than I can remember, the legislation that's being sold to us as health reform does little to address the issue of quality and it certainly doesn't fix the misaligned incentives that favor quantity over quality. Our esteemed elected officials claim they are paying attention to the evidence that this or that or whatever is politically palatable and will fix healthcare, but what doesn't seem to be politically palatable is to talk about the serious quality problem we have in American healthcare. Politicians love to cite studies, but who among the 435 members of the House or the 100 people that make up the most exclusive club of power-brokers anywhere--the Senate--cares about a new report in Health Affairs that says quality is not a top priority among nearly half the hospital boards in America?

Hospital boards are supposed to set the organizational direction, right? And half don't consider quality a priority? That, my friends, is a healthcare crisis. If quality isn't part of a hospital's mission, then what exactly is? - Neil

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