[HM2Viking]

Anyone who's had to use our healthcare system lately will not be surprised to learn that a performance scorecard released this week found several areas in need of improvement. Access to care is one example. In that category, the Commonwealth Fund report gave the United States a score of 58 out of 100 in 2008, nearly 10 points lower than in 2006, when the first national scorecard was released. That's in part because last year, 42 percent of adults—some 75 million people—were either uninsured or underinsured, the report found, compared with 35 percent in 2003.
Overall, the country scored a 65, down slightly from 67 in 2006, based on indicators in five areas: healthcare outcomes, quality, access, efficiency, and equity.

Other failings the report highlighted: Only half of all adults receive recommended preventive care and screenings. And the United States ranks last among industrialized countries at preventing premature deaths from preventable causes like heart disease and diabetes, which I wrote about earlier this year.

at http://www.usnews.com/blogs/on-healt...ealthcare.html

[PrettyPillz]

This shouldn't suprise any of us nurses. We see this everyday. How many more reports is it going to take before Washington wakes up?

[Mijourney]

I would go even further and write that we all need to wake up and face reality not just Washington. The article did mention that we've made significant improvement in hospital safety. However, we have a long way to go. With health care being so profit driven, I'm not sure we're going to make it.