The National Priorities Partnership was convened in response to the recognition by the National Quality Forum’s Board of Directors that the nation had not yet identified a set of priorities and goals for performance improvement. Without an agreed-upon set of national priorities, the efforts of the performance measurement, improvement, and reporting community were diffused, making the potential reform of the healthcare system even more difficult. To encourage a coordination of efforts, NQF’s Board of Directors expanded NQF’s mission in 2007 to include a systematic collaboration with other healthcare stakeholders to identify and establish a set of national priorities and goals to guide future healthcare reform efforts.
In a series of meetings held throughout 2008, the Partners engaged in a comprehensive, consensus-building process to identify those areas with the greatest potential to affect system-wide change. The Partnership identified the six Priority areas as those with the greatest potential to eradicate disparities, reduce harm, and remove waste from the American healthcare system.
