Text Size: New resource helps your employees stay informed and healthy
A healthy population requires a partnership among diverse groups – including patients, providers, hospitals, insurers and stakeholder groups – all sharing the same goal of health care that is both high quality and high value.
“Health care used to be this environment of ‘the doctor fixes me,’” says Barbara Prowe, executive director of the Oregon Coalition of Health Care Purchasers, a non-profit organization of private and public purchasers of group health care benefits. “But as a patient, I need to understand my diagnosis and my treatment options, and I want to have a choice in the providers I go to based on the quality of care I’ll receive. I become more of a partner in my care, and I become more accountable for my care.”
The OCHCP uses the collective voice of purchasers to help create a high-quality and high-value health care system, which includes helping purchasers steer their employees/members toward optimal health.
Online tool gives quality scores for hospitals, doctors’ offices
One important way for Oregonians to get optimal health care, says Prowe, is to use a new online resource called Partner for Quality Care. Sponsored by the non-profit organization Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation, or Quality Corp, the tool allows Oregonians to compare the quality of adult primary care in more than 300 doctors’ offices, as well as in hospitals across the state.
By using the online tool – found at www.partnerforqualitycare.org – health care consumers can find a specific doctor’s office and see how the office scores on quality in areas such as diabetes, women’s health and asthma treatment. Consumers also can use the tool to track hospital quality scores – both in overall quality and also in key areas such as surgical care, heart attacks, heart failure and pneumonia. Scores are developed by comparing clinical results with national benchmarking standards for quality.
“Our key message to people is to be involved and engaged in their health care,” says Nancy Clarke, executive director of Quality Corp, which launched the Partner for Quality Care online tool in February. “Employers who want to see their health care dollars used more effectively need to help get the word out to their employees.”
More online resources and tips for optimal care
Partner for Quality Care also provides tips for staying healthy and getting the most out of your health care experience. The Web site includes tips for:
- Staying healthy
- Getting the most out of your medical appointments, including specific questions to ask your provider
- Finding reliable, accurate health information on the Web
What’s next?
The Partner for Quality Care initiative plans to continue adding more data to the online tool, including information related to pediatric care.
Providence Health Plans is a strong advocate of greater transparency in health care quality and value and works closely with organizations such as OCHCP, Quality Corp and others to help improve health care quality and value.
“Providence has taken a number of innovative steps related to provider pay-for-performance, effective disease management models and electronic medical records – all of which contribute to increased value and quality for our members,” says Dan Stevens, regional director of provider networks for the health plan.
For more information about collaborative efforts to improve health care quality and value in Oregon, visit: www.ochcp.org