For further information please contact:
Katie Ostrander,
(414) 270-3000, ext. 231
Goal To Provide Quality, Cost & Value Comparisons Among Providers
MILWAUKEE (July 14, 2004) – A group of leading healthcare providers, businesses and unions today endorsed the development of a comparative measure of economic efficiency in healthcare to give businesses and consumers a reliable way to compare performance among providers.
According to the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, purchasers and providers will work together over time to develop a methodology that will accurately reflect the quality, cost and value of care delivered by doctors, hospitals and other providers.
“Businesses and consumers are looking for tools to evaluate prices, quality and services across the entire spectrum of care, from the physician’s office, to the hospital, to the medical lab, to the pharmacy counter,” said John Toussaint, M.D., chairman of the Collaborative and president/chief executive officer of Appleton-based ThedaCare. “Our intent is to work with business leaders to develop measures that will give purchasers and patients access to comprehensive, comparative cost and quality data.”
“Ultimately,” said Dr. Toussaint, “businesses and consumers will be able to judge which organizations are the best in each measure and reward them by choosing them to deliver their care.”
Development of the measures will occur in several phases. The Collaborative’s goal is to develop efficiency measures for hospitals and clinics that go beyond the reporting of charges, and provide fair comparisons between organizations. In addition, the Collaborative will be looking for ways to adjust the measures for teaching organizations, different charge structures and severity levels of patients.
“Although there have been numerous attempts to develop easily understood efficiency measures, none have proven to be very helpful to the consumer,” said William D. Petasnick, chief executive officer of Milwaukee-based Froedtert & Community Health. “We feel the Collaborative is in a unique position to assume a leadership role in this effort, given our membership composition. As a group we are committed to developing credible measures that are easily understood and meaningful to our patients and business partners.”
“Economic efficiency measures will be useful tools for employers.
We need to purchase the best healthcare for our employees, and we see our participation in the Collaborative as a smart business investment which enables us to do that,” said Ron Dix, a member of the Collaborative’s Board of Directors and senior vice president-administration/human resources and secretary of BadgerMeter. “Successful development of these measures could change the way we purchase healthcare, if they are credible measures of efficiency and quality. I encourage Wisconsin businesses to support the Collaborative as an essential first step in controlling the cost of healthcare.”
The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality is a voluntary group of multi-specialty physician groups, hospitals, health plans, employers and labor organizations from geographically diverse areas of the state that have come together to develop and share best practices and quality outcomes. The Collaborative was founded in 2003 on the principle that by focusing on improving quality, better care for patients and more rational costs will result.
“The Collaborative is unique because competing organizations have voluntarily come together for the good of our organizations, our patients and the business community that pays the lion’s share of the bill through health benefits to employees. Each organization has committed to publicly reporting data,” said Donald Logan, M.D., vice chairman of the Collaborative and chief medical officer of Madison-based Dean Health System.
In 2003 the Collaborative released its initial Performance & Progress Report, which published data from 42 cost and quality measures. The measures are based on the Institute of Medicine’s Six Aims for Improvement, including timeliness, efficiency, patient-centeredness, effectiveness, safety and equity.
The Collaborative’s Performance & Progress Report is the first:
-Developed in collaboration with healthcare providers, purchasers and consumers;
-Created with measures that span the continuum of care, including the doctor’s office, hospital setting and pharmacy counter; and,
-Based on data audited and verified by an independent third party.
Customizable reports from the Collaborative’s 2003 Performance & Progress Report are available online at www.wchq.org.
Collaborative participants are: Advanced Healthcare, Milwaukee; Affinity Medical Group, Oshkosh; Bellin Health, Green Bay; Columbia St. Mary’s, Milwaukee; Dean Health System, Madison; Froedtert & Community Health, Milwaukee; Gundersen Lutheran, La Crosse; Luther Midelfort—Mayo Health System, Eau Claire; Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield; Medical Associates Health Centers, Menomonee Falls; Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Meriter Hospital and Physicians Plus Insurance Corporation, Madison; Sacred Heart Hospital; Eau Claire; Saint Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield; St. Marys Hospital Medical Center, Madison; ThedaCare, Appleton; University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics, Madison; University of Wisconsin Medical Foundation, Madison; and Wausau Hospital, Wausau.
Business partners include The Alliance, Appleton Ideas, Badger Meter, DaimlerChrysler Corp., Schneider National, Sentry Insurance, Serigraph, Inc., The Trane Company, United Auto Workers, and Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce.
