June 26, 2006
Sims brings region closer to better health care at lower cost
People in King County and the Puget Sound region are about to benefit from an important breakthrough that will help physicians provide, and patients receive, better and more cost-effective medical care. King County Executive Ron Sims is proposing funding that will ultimately help make the region one of the nation's first to give people credible, comparative information about physician clinics and hospitals that they can use in making purchasing decisions. Physicians will have information that will help them improve the care they provide.
"The lack of useful health care information is hurting all of us," said Executive Sims, who is also Chair of the non-profit Puget Sound Health Alliance. "Once we have publicly available reports trusted by patients, their physicians, employers, and health plans, physicians and other providers will have insight into how consistently they are providing the most effective treatments, and how they can improve. Patients and consumers will use the information to choose where to get quality health care."
The Puget Sound Health Alliance, a public and private partnership dedicated to improving the cost-effectiveness and quality of health care will produce the comparison reports. The objective is to publish comparison reports on quality, cost and patient experience that use standards agreed to by doctors, hospitals, employers, health plans and consumers. Each is represented on the Alliance Board.
"It takes time for these information and reporting systems to be created in a useful way, but the goal can be met if we take leadership and build on the work of the Alliance," said Sims. "Other efforts to improve health care and moderate costs have failed without information to hold everyone accountable for providing value in health care."
Nationally, health care analysts see objective health comparison reports as a valuable mechanism for improving health care quality and patient experience, while controlling costs. A recent local survey by the Alliance showed that nearly all people are eager for information to help them be better consumers of health care.
"The health care comparison report to the public is an essential tool for the people of King County to fully realize the benefits of regional work done to transform health care," said Sims. "It is a monumental achievement for Alliance members to agree to create regional comparison reports for public use. Now, it is our collective responsibility to produce the reports to help people reap the benefits."
"Physicians and surgeons are science based care-givers, and want good data that leads to better care. A data system that gives them actionable data that they can actually use to improve their care will be welcome if we are truly seeking the best possible outcomes," said Peter J. Dunbar, MD, President of the Washington State Medical Association (WSMA).
The County would cover the cost of compiling population-based data that form the basis for the public comparison reports for the Puget Sound region. Unlike internal assessments of cost and quality produced by health plans that use their own standards and only their own data, the regional comparison produced by the Alliance will be based on standards agreed-upon by the community and reflect information from across the region. More complete data and community agreement on expectations will ensure that the reports will be useful for patients, doctors, hospitals, employers and health plans to make decisions that will drive improved patient care and eliminate ineffective care that increases costs without adding value.
"Many of the participants of the Alliance's five-county region have stepped up to help lead and fund specific activities that support and complement our goals," said Margaret Stanley, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Health Alliance. "We're pleased to work with Executive Sims and the King County Council to make certain that the public reports will provide valuable comparisons that will be of use and benefit to all residents in the region."
The comparison reports are expected to help reduce ineffective treatment that drives up costs. A 2004 RAND study found that 41 percent of the health care employers and patients purchase and receive in the Seattle area does not contribute to better health outcomes. The public reports will show results based on clear definitions of effective care, so patients can identify and seek out providers who offer the most effective treatments for their condition. This will create greater incentive for health care providers to eliminate costly, ineffective care.
The Alliance is approaching the public report creation in two phases: initially, report information will be gathered from existing sources such as insurance claims data; eventually, reports will be based on more comprehensive data. Phase Two will add clinical data from electronic medical records and potentially other electronic sources such as disease registries. In every step of the process, the data collected and used in the reports will not contain any personally identifiable health information. The first comparison report is expected to be ready for public use in 2007.
"Whether it is hybrid buses, a wastewater fuel cell or a health care comparison report for the public, I believe it is government's role to provide the leadership to support innovation that benefits its citizens," Sims said. "This is a small investment that will have a huge pay back in prolonged lives and lower health care costs for the people of this county and for the region."
Sims is seeking slightly more than a half million dollars to fund the first year of a three year a three-year contract currently under negotiation with a company that will compile and assist in analyzing the data for the report. The County is seeking grants for reimbursement and would seek successive appropriations for the remaining two years.
Executive Sims is the Chair of the Board of the Alliance and has been a driving force behind this innovative work that is gaining national recognition. The Alliance is an independent non-profit involving more than 100 private and public organizations, representing over 900,000 persons. Within King County, Executive Sims also created an internal program to reduce employee benefit costs by providing an employee wellness program and requiring employees to be more involved in their health care.
The Puget Sound Health Alliance is a non-profit organization made up of those who provide, pay for and use health care, working together to improve quality of care at a price more people can afford. More than 100 organizations have joined the Alliance, including Boeing, Starbucks, Puget Sound Energy, REI, Washington Mutual, WA State Health Care Authority, King County and many other employers, physician clinics, hospitals, consumer groups, unions and trusts, health plans, pharmaceutical companies, and others.