The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently released its 2004 annual report, which calls for the expansion of pay-for-performance programs and a more-digitized health care system.“The Future in Focus” includes numerous examples of industry leaders who have successfully adopted leading-edge practices such as complex-case management, and measuring and rewarding physician performance. Also included is a hypothetical case study that illustrates how “systemness” (the adopted of systematic processes for management the flow of clinical and other information), helps to improve health care. It follows the fictional “Mrs. G,” a diabetes patient, comparing her health care experience today with the care she might get in the future—when better processes result in better and more consistent support.

The need for collaboration around quality issues is a major theme of the report. “Just-in-time information at the point of care, establishing rewards for quality, putting claims information online—these aren’t things you do on your own,” says Margaret E. O’Kane, NCQA president. “These and other promising strategies will require new levels of collaboration, most notably between patients and providers.”

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