Albuquerque is fortunate to be one of 16 communities nationwide that has been designated as an Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) community by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.  As a result of this designation, the Albuquerque Coalition for Healthcare Quality, a multi-stakeholder group focused on “aligning forces” in order to improve the quality of health and health care and improve the efficiency of the health care system, was formed.  This effort brings together those who receive care (consumers), provide care (hospitals and providers) and pay for care (health plans and employers) to focus in key areas including performance measurement/public reporting, quality improvement, and consumer engagement.  There is also work going on to improve the efficiency of the health care system and decrease costs by looking at different models of providing health care and changing the payment system to support these new models. 

Last year at the national level, we had the passage of health care reform.  However, this is not the single solution to improve the current status of health care and all of the challenges we face (such as health care quality, access, cost, shortage of health care providers, etc).  The current system is broken.  Health care is at the top concern for everyone, including consumers, employers, government sector, and those working within healthcare themselves.  All health care is local and the AF4Q initiative is working to identify what changes can be made and tested here in our local community which will address and improve these issues and ultimately inform the national dialogue.  Find out what your role is and what you can do to be part of this transformational change occurring here in Albuquerque.