Now that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have passed their own versions of sweeping health care reform legislation, the health care industry has its eyes and ears on lawmakers as they negotiate the details of a final, compromise measure. 

At this time, it’s hard to predict what that final bill will look like and what components will be included, but experts agree that health care quality measures will be a key element of the ultimate plan. Recently, NAHQ e-news had the chance to talk with American Hospital Association’s Dr. Maulik Joshi and Nancy Foster about how health care reform will affect the health care quality professional. Joshi is president of AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust and editor of NAHQ’s Journal for Healthcare Quality, and Foster is AHA’s vice president of quality and patient safety policy.

Q: What is the role of health care quality efforts in health care reform?

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