Summary

Description

The State Snapshots provide graphical representations of State-specific health care 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 health care quality and disparities in their State. State-level information used to create the State Snapshots is based on data collected for the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR). The State Snapshots include summary measures of quality of care and States' performances relative to all States, the region, and best performing States by overall health care quality, types of care (preventive, acute, and chronic), settings of care (hospitals, ambulatory care, nursing home, and home health), and clinical conditions (cancer, diabetes, heart disease, maternal and child health, and respiratory diseases). Special focus areas on diabetes, asthma, Healthy People 2010, clinical preventive services, disparities, payer, and variation over time are also featured. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released the State Snapshots each year in conjunction with the 2004 NHQR through the 2009 NHQR.