States can achieve high performance health
While regional differences in the United States in cooking, music, and many other factors should be celebrated and preserved, variations affecting the quality of health care residents of each state receive must be eliminated, according to Commonwealth Fund president Karen Davis, in an on-line commentary on the fund's national health system performance scorecard.
"All Americans deserve the benefits of a high-performing health system, no matter what state they call home," she declared.
In urging states to learn from innovative strategies being pursued in other states, Ms. Davis pointed to Rhode Island as a state that is demonstrating its commitment to improving coverage and care.
In an effort to promote affordable health insurance, she said, the state's Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner gathered data on its uninsured population, learning that the majority are young, male, employed, and low-income. Those data were used to shape legislation passed last July that authorized the commissioner to implement a new affordable health plan for small businesses and individuals, and provided for formation of an advisory committee to make recommendations on the health plan's requirements and insurer-proposed designs. The law also mandated creation of a target average annual premium and affordability guidelines.
Ms. Davis also said the Rhode Island Department of Health is working with the nonprofit Rhode Island Quality Institute on an initiative to promote access to electronic health information data across the state. The Rhode Island Health Information Exchange is funded by a $5 million contract from the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Gradual implementation is planned, beginning with laboratory data and eventually including medication histories, reports such as hospital discharge and pathology reports, and administrative data.
Once the system is in place, she said, consumers will be able to grant a variety of health providers permission to share their health information. Such a network, she said, is likely to reduce errors and improve efficiency by allowing every health provider a patient sees over time to get a good overall picture of the individual's medical history and needs.
Learn from leading states' efforts
"Every state can learn from Rhode Island and other leading states' efforts to improve access, quality, and efficiency in their health care systems," Ms. Davis wrote.
She also called attention to Maine's revisions to its Dirigo Health Initiative to encourage employer participation, and to Massachusetts, which passed a law earlier this year to expand coverage options for individuals and employers.
To help states and the nation move toward an improved health system, Ms. Davis said, the Commission on a High-Performance Health System defined these seven core values and goals:
- expanding health insurance coverage to all residents;
- implementing major quality and safety improvements;
- working toward a more organized delivery system that emphasizes patient-centered primary and preventive care;
- increasing transparency and reporting on quality and costs;
- expanding use of interoperable information technology;
- rewarding performance for quality and efficiency;
- encouraging public-private collaboration to achieve simplification and more effective change.
"States such as Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts have already adopted many of these goals," Ms. Davis concluded. "By observing these states' creative strategies in action, every state can develop initiatives tailored to its health care needs and unique circumstances."
She said states will be able to get more information on metrics tracking health care outcomes, quality, access, disparities, and efficiency from an upcoming state-by-state scorecard.
While regional differences in the United States in cooking, music, and many other factors should be celebrated and preserved, variations affecting the quality of health care residents of each state receive must be eliminated.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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