General Resources about Quality of Care:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Questions you can ask to help improve the quality of your care or that of a loved one:
Campaign Zero - Families for Patient Safety
A consumer site that includes a wide variety of information about patient safety such as infections and medical errors. Includes safety checklists and other resources.
Cautious Patient Foundation
Offers a variety of resources encouraging patients to respectfully engage with their doctors and better participate in their healthcare.
http://www.cautiouspatient.org/Choosing Wisely
A doctor-supported website that lists tests and procedures that you may not need.
Consumermedsafety.org
Resources to help prevent medication errors sponsored by the non-profit Institute for Safe Medication Practices.
Dartmouth Atlas of Health Care
A research and policy oriented website that documents the variations in health care nationwide. Sophisticated users will find a wealth of information about how communities and hospitals vary on many measures of performance:
http://www.dartmouthatlas.orgA good overview is found on Topic Brief on Effective Care [pdf].
Effective Health Care Program
A website that helps you explore your treatment options:
The Empowered Patient Coalition
A consumer site that provides a variety of factsheets, checklists and other resources about patient safety and medical decision making.
http://www.empoweredpatientcoalition.org/HealthIT.gov
The "Patients and Families" section of this federal site includes useful information on the basics of health information technology (health IT), types of IT and protecting your privacy and security.
The Joint Commission
Information from the national organization that reviews quality in the nation's hospitals and other health settings. Site provides guides to choosing health care organizations. Also includes Speak Up resources-a program that has videos and other information about patient safety and patient rights.
National Institutes of Health
Resources about talking to your doctor
http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/talktoyourdoctor.htmNext Steps in Care
Provides easy-to-use guides to help family caregivers plan and implement health transitions (such as from a hospital to home or hospital to a rehab facility).
http://www.nextstepincare.org/The Partnership for Healthcare Excellence
A MA-based non-profit that provides a variety of useful information about getting quality care, including a directory of credible websites and research on health care quality.
http://www.partnershipforhealthcare.org/The Prepared Patient Resources
A set of articles and links collected by the non-profit Center for Advancing Health that provides information about being a patient.
http://www.cfah.org/prepared-patient/The Safe Patient Resource Center
Includes consumer friendly information on over 50 topics related to patient safety.
http://www.patientsafetypartnership.org/Talking Quality:
A federal website that provides guidance for sponsors of consumer reports on health care quality.
https://www.talkingquality.ahrq.gov/