Core measures
Focused attention on quality healthcare delivery is relatively
new, beginning in the mid-1980s. At the turn of the 21st
century, two landmark reports drew global attention to the
quality healthcare crisis in the United States of America –
To Err is Human (1999) and Crossing the Quality Chasm
(2001). Around the globe, industrialized countries began to
scrutinize the quality of their healthcare delivery and
identify deficiencies and opportunities for improvement. In
1999, the Quality of Healthcare in America Committee
stated that it was unacceptable for patients to be harmed by
a healthcare system that was supposed to offer healing and
comfort – a system that promised ‘First, do no harm’ (NAS
1999).