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RWJF Discussion Board: Share Your Thoughts on Health Care Transformation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is interested in hearing about how they can help communities transform health care. Here are some questions to get the conversation started.

Health Affairs – Regional Quality Initiatives: Expanding the Partnership

In a recent Health Affairs blog, David Blumenthal, Carolyn Clancy, and Risa Lavizzo-Mourey discuss efforts – led by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation – to improve regional quality of care while developing ways to lower costs and improve health.  

Combining Claims and Registry Data for Patient-Focused Outcome Measurement

OVERVIEW: Performance measurement is fundamental to improving quality, engaging consumers through transparency, and supporting payment reform. One of the challenges of effective performance measurement is capturing robust and accurate data. A new technical brief describes innovative and technically feasible steps that could be taken today to measure patient-centered outcomes along the continuum of care.

Enhancing Hospital Performance Measurement Through Greater Data Integration

Performance measures that address the time­liness, effectiveness, and appropriateness of care often focus on clinical processes rather than clinical outcomes. This is because neces­sary sources of clinical data – such as electronic reports of laboratory, radiology, and pathology findings – have not been readily accessible for performance measurement.

Identifying Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Hospital Quality: Montgomery County Hospital Care Equity Initiative

OVERVIEW: Health care equity is key to health care quality. It is well documented that racial and ethnic minorities suffer disproportionately from increased rates of disease and poor health status in the United States. They are also subject to disparities in the quality of treatment they receive, even when insurance coverage and socioeconomic status are similiar. 

Expert Panel Recommendations: Lab Data Integration for Diabetes Care Improvement

Integrating lab results with other sources of data, such as claims and other contextual, clinical patient health information, has the potential to significantly increase the data’s usefulness with regard to decision-support and care management improvement, and performance and population health management. Such integration could allow for better care planning and management, and produce useful feedback for physicians to improve care.

Defining a Business Case for Measuring and Addressing Disparities in Health Care: Evidence from King County

OVERVIEW: Poor health care quality impacts employers financially in two major areas — direct costs of health care and indirect costs related to absenteeism, turnover, and reduced productivity. Also, studies have also shown that members of racial/ethnic minority groups disproportionately experience lower-quality health care than Whites. Identifying these gaps in quality and disparities in care and designing appropriate interventions should lead to both short- and long-term savings for employers.

Lessons in the Acquisition of Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data by Health Plans

OVERVIEW:  The Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council last year was faced with the challenge of implementing a state requirement for race/ethnicity data reporting by health plans. The Engelberg Center provided technical support for this effort by developing consistent data collection and reporting protocols for all plans in the state.

Update on the Montgomery County Hospital Care Equity Initiative: Community Engagement to Foster Equity

The Montgomery County Hospital Care Equity Initiative recently partnered with the Summit Health Institute for Research and Education, Inc. (SHIRE) to develop a community engagement report examining several issues related to race/ethnicity data collection and disparities reporting among area hospitals and community organizations. A final report - available in mid-October - will serve as a tool to Montgomery County hospitals and the surrounding community striving to develop effective interventions for health and health care disparities.

Current Efforts of Regional and National Performance Measurement Initiatives Around the United States

Performance measurement and public reporting have been identified as potential levers to improve health care quality and reduce costs.