Argentina's Ministry of Health has approved the National Plan for Quality in Health 2026–2030, whose objective is to sustainably improve the country's healthcare system by promoting a culture of quality and safety in care. According to a report seen by the Argentine News Agency, the plan will serve as a roadmap for jurisdictions to strengthen the training of their health professionals and incorporate innovation tools to help bolster the safety of the care process and the work of health teams. Furthermore, the health ministry stated that the new plan will be organized around four strategic lines that aim to address difficulties related to the lack of common quality standards, as well as the lack of systematic mechanisms for evaluating and monitoring the practices and competencies of the country's healthcare system. Its implementation will also be supported by a Guide to Good Practices containing 59 indicators that cut across all strategic lines and will promote a progressive increase in the number of establishments committed to these standards nationwide. Details: The first axis of the Plan will focus on strengthening the leadership of the national health portfolio for cultural transformation and strategic talent management, while, through the National Program for Guaranteeing the Quality of Medical Care, the normative and regulatory frameworks will be updated, and the Federal Quality Network will be consolidated as a space for articulation with the jurisdictions. At this point, work will be done on service self-assessment processes, and guidelines for the organization and operation of health services and for risk management will be developed. It also promotes the use of dashboards to assess the impact of training actions and encourages the publication of open data to improve transparency and support decision-making. Work will also be done on developing protocols for good practices in health care, control of drug and supply stocks, and waste disposal. Through its second strategic line, the Plan will aim to improve the quality of care and patient safety in an integrated manner. It will also work on the mandatory incorporation of quality and safety content into undergraduate and residency programs, and will promote the training of leaders in quality within institutions responsible for identifying aspects to improve within their areas of work. Finally, through its fourth strategic line, the new plan gives a hierarchical place to information as a strategic asset for the management of the health system. In this sense, it proposes to advance in the integration of jurisdictional registration systems and strengthen the Federal Observatory of Health Talent as a key tool to systematize data, identify competence gaps and training needs. Likewise, instances of certification will be promoted to expand the number of 'Health establishments committed to quality', the creation of quality committees in institutions will be encouraged, and strategies will be developed to encourage the reporting of adverse events and incidents and reduce their occurrence. In the axis linked to permanent education, the Plan will emphasize the development of health talent for quality and safety. To this end, training proposals in service articulation with universities and specialized bodies will be developed, prioritizing the use of open virtual platforms, clinical simulation, and communities of practice.
