General Resources about Quality of Care:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Questions you can ask to help improve the quality of your care or that of a loved one:
Effective Health Care Program
A website that helps you explore your treatment options:
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/Campaign for Effective Patient Care
The Campaign advocates for policies to improve patient care by supporting doctors and patients in making smart use of what works best for which patients.
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.
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].
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/The Joint Commission
Speak Up offers a variety of brochures about patient safety and patient rights by the organization that reviews quality in the nation's hospitals and other health care settings. Includes information for parents about preventing medical errors in your child's care.
National Institutes of Health
Resources about talking to your doctor
http://www.nih.gov/clearcommunication/talktoyourdoctor.htmThe 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/resources/intro.cfmThe 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/default.aspx