These measures assess preventive care and care of chronic conditions and reflect a broadly accepted evidence-based definition of appropriate care to which the level of observed performance can be compared. Some users of performance measurement choose multiple measures of the specific aspect of health care they wish to assess in order to get a more complete picture of performance. There is no standardized definition of health care quality. Patient definitions of desired results. Use of the best currently available medical knowledge.
Most experts believe that outcomes are the best measures.
Age can affect health care outcomes. Healthier people are likely to have better health care outcomes. Better diets and healthier environments relate to better health care outcomes. Return to Contents Important Cautions Conclusions about quality based on outcomes could be inaccurate if outcomes are not adjusted to determine whether patient characteristics or actual quality of care most affected the results. Techniques for making such adjustments are complex.