HHS Quality Summit (QS) Fact Sheet

The Department of Health and Human Services is committed to ensuring that American patients receive the highest value healthcare, which Secretary Azar has identified as a key priority for HHS, by taking actionable steps to improve price and quality transparency under President Trump’s leadership

• President Trump’s Executive Order on transparency directs federal agencies to improve price and quality transparency, including streamlining the numerous different measurements the federal government uses to track healthcare quality
• HHS oversees a number of quality programs that were initially developed nearly 20 years ago to strengthen organizational capacity to improve outcomes for beneficiaries
• These quality programs administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Indian Health Service (IHS), have not undergone a systematic objective review to ensure they are serving their stated purpose of improving processes and enhancing communication to improve beneficiary outcomes
• Internal and external stakeholders have identified gaps between the different quality measures that weaken overall program integrity

As part of its mission to enhance and promote the health and well-being of the American people, HHS is undertaking a review to ensure price and quality transparency as well as improved value for all patients served by these programs

• The Quality Summit will bring together key industry stakeholders and government leaders to discuss how current quality programs administered by HHS can be further evaluated, adapted, and streamlined to deliver better outcomes for American patients.
• The Summit will be chaired by Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan and Peter Pronovost, M.D., Ph.D., a renowned international expert on healthcare quality and patient safety.
• The Summit participants will be comprised of government stakeholders and 15 non-government healthcare industry leaders, who will offer insights into the modernization of HHS’s quality programs.
• Discussions will build on a patient-centered approach to care that focuses on competition, quality, and access to care.
• The Summit participants will also discuss the task of identifying burdensome regulations and the mechanisms needed to improve providers’ abilities to deliver high-quality care to their patients.