Group purchasers as well as public and private sector quality oversight organizations should work expeditiously to incorporate the provisions of the Consumer Bill of Rights and Responsibilities into their contractual and oversight requirements. The Commission is pleased that the President has acted to ensure accountability in Federal public programs covering an estimated one-third of Americans and that employers and health plans have voluntarily committed to assure these protections to an additional 60 million Americans. In the year 2000, the Advisory Council should issue a comprehensive evaluation of the extent to which public and private sector leaders have been successful in ensuring compliance. Quality Improving quality requires commitment at all levels of the health care industry. Health care organizations, professionals, and other participants in the health care system must make quality improvement the driving force of the industry.
Greater investment is needed in basic, clinical, preventive, and health services research.
The continued development and dissemination of evidence-based information can help to guide practitioners' actions and the development and implementation of management policies that can influence practice to improve quality. Adapting organizations for change. Health care workers. Greater collaborations among health workers, along with better education and training of workers in quality improvement skills, are needed. The estimated 10 million health care workers in the United States can be a powerful tool for improving quality.