National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Data Tools

The National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report (NHQDR) assesses the performance of our healthcare systems and identifies areas of strengths and weaknesses, as well as disparities, for access to healthcare and quality of healthcare. Quality is described in terms of six priority areas: patient safety, person-centered care, care coordination, effective treatment, healthy living, and care affordability. The NHQDR is based on nearly 700 measures from more than 30 sources of quality and disparities data covering a broad array of healthcare services and settings. The AHRQ Data Tools include more than 400 measures.

Previous NHQDRs starting in 2018 are available at https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/nhqrdr/index.html.

National Dashboard 

The National Dashboard provides national-level healthcare quality information, including trends and benchmarks. The goal is to help users better understand healthcare quality and disparities Americans experience.

Select for the National Dashboard.

• What Does This Tool Do?

  Users can review healthcare quality trends and compare benchmarks to assess healthcare quality performance. 

  The tool helps users: 

  • Determine which of the more than 400 healthcare quality measures are improving, worsening, or not changing over time. 
  • Analyze trends in healthcare quality among different priority areas, populations, locations, care settings, and other areas. 
  • Identify measures that have achieved the benchmark, are close to the benchmark, and are far from the benchmark. 
  • Pinpoint population groups that are performing better than others at the national level. 

• What Can This Tool Tell States About Their Performance? 

  The National Dashboard highlights healthcare quality measures, providing users with specific healthcare quality information related to population, location, condition, and care setting. The goal is to help users better understand healthcare quality and disparities on the national level. The tool gives users a summary overview of performance and allows them to drill down to the individual component measures of that summary. Easy access to individual measures helps to accurately identify areas in need of improvement.

State Snapshot Dashboard 

The State Snapshot provides state-specific healthcare quality information, including strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for improvement. The goal is to help state officials and their public- and private-sector partners better understand healthcare quality and disparities in their state. 

Select for the State Snapshot Tool. 

• What Does This Tool Do? 

  State leaders can use this tool to measure their state's healthcare quality performance. The tool will help state leaders:

  • Determine their state's performance on more than 400 healthcare quality measures.
  • Compare their state's healthcare quality standing with all other states. 
  • Identify high-performing states for networking and sharing of best practices. 
  • Pinpoint statewide healthcare quality weaknesses to better target improvement initiatives.  

• What Can This Tool Tell States About Their Performance? 

  The State Dashboards feature healthcare quality measures, providing state officials with state-specific healthcare quality information. The goal is to help state officials and their public- and private-sector partners better understand healthcare quality and disparities in their state. The tool gives users a summary overview of their state's performance and allows them to drill down to the individual component measures of that summary. Easy access to individual measures helps states more accurately identify their strengths and weaknesses, thereby highlighting targeted areas for improvement. 

• Who Should Use This Tool? 

  This tool can be used by: 

  • State health officials and executive branch officials (state health departments, Medicaid officials, benefit managers for state employees, etc.). 
  • State elected leaders—governors and legislators. 
  • Nongovernmental state and local healthcare leaders (professional societies, provider associations, hospital associations, quality improvement organizations, voluntary health organizations, health plans, business coalitions, community organizations, and consumer groups). 

• How Would This Tool Be Useful? 

  The State Dashboard can be of great value to quality improvement efforts, including assessing the following questions: 

  • How does a state perform on quality compared with other states? 
  • Where is a state performing particularly well on healthcare quality? 
  • Where is a state underperforming on healthcare quality? 
  • What is the prevalence of common diseases or conditions in a state? Is the trend in prevalence increasing, decreasing, or staying constant? 
  • How does this tool interface with other AHRQ products, such as the Asthma Care Quality Improvement Resource Guide and Workbook? 
  • How does access to state-specific quality performance data better inform efforts to prioritize initiatives? 

State Benchmarks 

The State Benchmarks can be of great value to quality improvement research efforts for comparing a state’s measures with achievable benchmarks derived from top-performing states. Specialized state Race & Ethnicity and Income Level dashboards offer a unique view. 

Data Query 

The Data Query Tool is an interactive tool that allows users to access national and state data for more than 400 measures across more than 30 data sources from the NHQDR. 

• What Does This Tool Do? 

  Users can view data and data displays for their selected measures by multiple population groups and download Excel files that include all population groups for the measures they select. The tool will help users: 

  • Access state trend data for different priority areas, populations, locations, care settings, and other areas. 
  • Compare data between two populations for their selected measures. 
  • Access state trend data for different priority areas (affordable care, care coordination, effective care, healthy living, patient safety, and person-centered care) and access to care. 
  • Access state data by disability, education, insurance, marital status, race, ethnicity, income, and sex. 

Special Emphasis 

Use the Special Emphasis data tools developed to delve into timely policy topics. Topics were chosen based on administration and agency priorities, relevance to quality and disparities, and availability of relevant data. The topics are rotated annually in the fall or early winter and are aligned with the NHQDR publication.