More patients are getting the right treatment at the right time for their health conditions, but progress remains modest for patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes and asthma, according to Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ) recently released Chartbook on Effective Treatment.

Overall, about half of the 46 measures of effective treatment showed improvement. Nine of those measures reached optimal performance, including two related to effective treatment for heart disease — providing percutaneous coronary intervention to heart attack patients within 90 minutes and prescribing certain classes of drugs to treat heart disease upon hospital discharge.

Meanwhile, four measures worsened over time, including two measures related to effective management of diabetes and one measure of regular use of medications to prevent asthma attacks. Research summaries for clinicians on management of diabetes and management of heart and blood conditions  are available from AHRQ’s Effective Health Care program.