Health Care Sector Reform and Quality Assurance in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has taken the search for improvement of quality health care seriously, and has initiated several activities in that area. The Quality Assurance Project… has provided technical assistance to introduce continuous quality improvement methodology in seven hospitals and clinics in the South Central Health Region. This intervention was expected to result in concrete improvements for specific problems in each of these health facilities, and to serve as a model to be duplicated in health facilities elsewhere in the country. [author’s description]