Quality of Care for General Medical Conditions: A Review of the Literature and Quality Indicators

Abstract : This report is one of a series of volumes describing the QA Tools, a comprehensive, clinically based system for assessing care for children and adults. The quality indicators that comprise these Tools cover 46 clinical areas and all 4 functions of medicine-screening, diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. The indicators also cover a variety of modes of providing care, including history, physical examination, laboratory study, medication, and other interventions and contacts. Development of each indicator was based on a review of the literature. Each volume documents the literature on which the indicators were based, explains how the clinical areas and indicators were selected, and describes what is included in the overall system. The QA Tools were developed with funding from public and private sponsors-the Health Care Financing Administration, the Agency for Health care Research and Quality, the California Health Care Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.