In America, we are privileged to have access to some of the best health care in the world. Yet the provision of health care is becoming increasingly complex and expensive, with demands on the system likely to grow over time as the population ages and new advances in medicine are introduced. This means that the best use of existing and new resources must be ensured and appropriate care made predictably available to all Americans.

A growing number of reports and studies have documented serious and widespread problems with the performance of the health care system (AHRQ 2005a, 2005b; Dartmouth Atlas Project 1999, 2006; IOM 1999, 2003; Leatherman and McCarthy 2002, 2004, 2005; McGlynn et al. 2003; Schuster et al. 1998, 2001). These problems include:

• underuse of beneficial services;
• overuse of procedures that are not medically indicated;
• errors leading to patient injury;
• inadequate interpersonal interaction with patients;
• unequal treatment of racial and ethnic minorities and of patients with lower income and education; and
• unwarranted variations in care.

A common understanding of these problems is needed to provide a framework for communication among the many stakeholders and garner the necessary resources and attention—in both the public and private sectors—to improve the performance of the health care system. This Web site has been created to help meet this need (see About Snapshots for additional information).