The definitive book on improving healthcare quality, this book compiles the most current information on a vast array of quality issues, tools, and strategies. The bookÂ’s core premise is that the key to effective improvement is centering all efforts on the needs of patients. With the future of healthcare revolving around the patient, this book will be a valuable resource for years to come. The editors have assembled a nationally prominent group of contributors to provide the best available thinking in each area of quality. Topics covered include: collecting data and the various sources that feed into quality improvement; approaches for analyzing data to measure performance improvement; establishing measures to assess physician performance; assessing patientsÂ’ experiences within important dimensions of care; developing balanced scorecards or dashboards; clinical IT capabilities needed to support efforts to improve complex clinical processes; the relationship of the law to quality improvement; leading quality-improvement efforts and managing change; and understanding the work of the two major accrediting bodies in healthcare quality. This book is copublished with the American Society for Quality and includes Forewords by Stephen M. Shortell, Ph.D.,FACHE, and Gail Warden, FACHE. Contributors to this book include: A. Al-Assaf, David Ballard, Donald Berwick, Troyan Brennan, John Byrnes, Francois de Brantes, Susan Edgman-Levitan, Frances Griffin, Carol Haraden, Maulik Joshi, Narendra Kini, Robert Lloyd, Jerod Loeb, David Nash, Greg Pawlson, Michael Pugh, Scott Ransom, Jim Reinertsen, Paul Schyve, Stephen Shortell, Mike Stoecklein, Richard Ward, Gail Warden, Valerie Weber, and Leon Wyszewianski.