Office of Healthcare Quality (OHQ)
The Office of Healthcare Quality (OHQ) was established by the Assistant Secretary for Health in December 2009 to lead and coordinate cross-cutting issues that strengthen the health system and improve the quality of healthcare and public health across the United States. It is located within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), under the Office of the Secretary (OS) in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).
Mission
Advancing the quality of public health and healthcare services for a healthier nation.
Vision
Establish quality as the foundation of an equitable and integrated public health and healthcare delivery system.
OHQ currently has two key activities: 1) the Healthcare-Associated Infections Prevention Initiative, and 2) the Public Health System, Finance, and Quality Program.
Healthcare-Associated Infections Prevention Initiative
Background
Healthcare-associated infections, or HAIs, are infections that patients acquire while receiving treatment for other conditions. At any given time, about 1 in every 20 patients has an infection related to their hospital care. These infections cost the U.S. healthcare system billions of dollars each year and lead to the loss of tens of thousands of lives.
In 2009, HHS released the Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (Action Plan). The plan serves as a road map for acute care hospitals to reduce and prevent infections.
A revised and expanded Action Plan is scheduled for release in 2011. The content for acute care hospitals will be updated and expanded and will include new sections specific to ambulatory surgical centers, end-stage renal disease facilities, as well as strategies for increasing flu vaccination among healthcare personnel.
The Action Plan represents the efforts of a broad partnership and commitment across HHS and other Departments, including the:
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
- National Institutes of Health (NIH)
- Indian Health Service (IHS)
- Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
- Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH)
- National Vaccine Program Office (NVPO)
- Office of Healthcare Quality (OHQ)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE)
- Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs (ASPA)
- Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC)
- U.S. Department of Defense
- U.S. Department of Labor
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
Public Health System, Finance, and Quality Program
In November 2010, Assistant Secretary for Health Howard Koh issued Priority Areas for Improvement of Quality in Public Health. The report is a call to action to focus national attention on priority areas that serve as primary drivers of public health quality and desired health outcomes.
Background
The Public Health System, Finance, and Quality (PHSFQ) Program serves as an organizational center to connect, through a synergistic network, federal agencies and system partners on public health system-level issues of shared interest and mutual benefit. Emphasis in the PHSFQ program is focused predominantly on system policies, analysis of financial sustainability, and quality improvement.
In 1988, the Institute of Medicine noted governmental public health as the organizational center of public health activities and further recognized the public health knowledge base as the nucleus of what the federal government should promote to ensure an effective system. Critical to promoting the transfer, integration, and application of knowledge among system partners is the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health.
Goals
The overarching goals of the program are to identify, advise, and focus national attention on high priority system-level issues and to assist in mainstreaming quality promoting concepts to assure a robust and financially sustainable public health system. These include:
- Promoting a systems approach to addressing problems;
- Ensuring system-wide effectiveness;
- Leveraging resources to strengthen science and knowledge especially when addressing the needs of vulnerable and disadvantaged populations; and
- Promoting leadership and coordination of public health research activities.
