Poor healthcare quality is a public health emergency. Landmark reports by the Institute of Medicine and other leading groups exposed the continuing inadequacies that plague the United States healthcare system. Despite the "red flags" that these reports raised, there has been only marginal improvement in healthcare quality. Therefore, improving the quality of health care should be one of our highest public health priorities.

The Institute of Medicine called the substantial gulf between the vision of ideal care and the reality of what most individuals receive a “quality chasm”. The Quality Solution enlightens, informs, and challenges professionals in public health, medicine, health administration, and health law to bridge this chasm and to participate in the transformation of the healthcare system through the science of healthcare quality-measurement and improvement.

Through the contributions of a knowledgeable and experienced panel of authors, The Quality Solution profiles initiatives of the key healthcare stakeholders--consumers, payers, healthcare providers, and employers--and how they can work together to improve healthcare quality.