Joan M. Teno, MD, MS, and Pedro L. Gozalo, PhD, of the Brown University School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island, commented on end-of-life care in an editorial accompanying the JAMA study by Obermeyer et al.

“As financial incentives change in the U.S. health-care system, valid measures of care quality are increasingly important for ensuring transparency and accountability. Obermeyer and colleagues assessed hospitalization rates, intensive care admissions, and invasive procedures, but additional measures must have evidence of their ability to discriminate the quality of care and must be responsive to change, easy to understand, and actionable. This will involve investing public dollars in the ‘quality’ of quality measures and their dissemination. If quality of care is not front and center, the momentum to improve end-of-life care in the United States could face a serious setback.” ■

Disclosure: Dr. Teno is the recipient of a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Investigators Award grant. She and Dr. Gozalo reported no potential conflicts of interest.

Reference

1. Teno JM, Gozalo PL: Quality and costs of end-of-life care: The need for transparency and accountability. JAMA 312:1868-1869, 2014.