Measuring quality is crucial to improving quality, to paying doctors and hospitals based on patients’ health outcomes, and to steering patients toward high-value providers. But quality has many dimensions that are measured in many ways.

Understanding public perspectives on and experiences with quality can help quality improvement and transparency efforts stay focused on what matters to people who receive care. What do people think makes for high-quality care?

This research brief describes findings from three nationally representative surveys of people in three particular care situations: those who were recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, women who recently gave birth, and those who had a joint replacement surgery.

Public Agenda conducted this research with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2017)