Over the last few decades, the measurement and reporting of health care quality outcomes has grown significantly. As health care evolves, it is important to continue to monitor and report on the quality of care delivered to patients in California and across the US. This set of quality measures is part of a series CHCF publishes on the quality of care in our state. Topics range from maternal to end-of-life care, and include measures on behavioral health, chronic conditions, and providers.

This set of quality measures focuses on children’s health.

Latino/x adolescents were more likely to be overweight or obese than adolescents of other races and ethnicities, and a higher percentage of Latino/x and Black children were overweight for their age.

Nearly one in two Latino/x adolescents and nearly two in five California adolescents overall were overweight or obese. One in five Latino/x and Black children was overweight for their age. Being overweight or obese increases the risk of various health problems, including diabetes, high blood pressure, and asthma.

Pediatric hospital admission rates for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions declined sharply in 2020.

Based on a composite measure for four conditions, 44 hospitalizations per 100,000 children (age 6–17) in 2020 were potentially preventable through effective chronic care management and access to high-quality primary care. This rate has been declining since 2016. However, the large drop in the rate from 2019 to 2020 may have been due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Black children were more likely to have asthma and had much higher rates of asthma-related ED visits than children of other races/ethnicities.

In 2021, 21% of Black children, 13% of multiracial children, 12% of Latino/x children, 10% of White children, and 9% of Asian children had been told by a doctor that they had asthma. Black children were also much more likely to visit an emergency room for asthma symptoms than children of other races/ethnicities. Asthma can have many negative impacts on a child’s health and well-being, including making it difficult to exercise, play, and attend school.

The companion Excel data file, which provides these data and more, as well as links to each data source, is available for download below. These materials are part of CHCF’s California Health Care Almanac, an online clearinghouse for key data and analyses describing the state’s health care landscape. See our entire collection of current and past editions of Quality of Care.