MILWAUKEE, March 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — In a meeting today in Milwaukee with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, executives from area businesses signed statements of support for a national initiative aimed at improving health care quality, information and cost-effectiveness for employees and their families. The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality was recognized as a pilot site to pioneer new methods of reporting on quality of care.
Altogether, more than 2.3 million people will benefit by implementation of this initiative in Wisconsin. Employers signing on from Wisconsin include Advanced Healthcare, SC; Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield; Aurora; Blomquist Benefits LLC; Brady Corporation; Bucyrus International, Inc.; Business Health Care Group; Columbia St. Mary’s, Inc.; Diversified Insurance Services, Inc; DMT-Drillmaster Tool; GE Healthcare; Harley-Davidson Motor Co.; Hays Companies; Health Care System Consultants; Health Solutions LTD; Humana; IntellectualMarketing, LLC; Johnson & Johnson; Johnson Controls; Jorgensen Conveyors, Inc.; Joy Global; Journal Sentinel; Ladish Co., Inc; Laurus Strategies; Manpower; Marcus Corporation; Marshall & Ilsley Corporation; Mid- State Insurance; Midwest Airlines, Inc.; MJ Care, Inc.; MMAC; Northwestern Mutual; Orion Corporation; Patient Care; Rockwell Automation; Roundy’s Supermarkets, Inc.; Screen Specialists Ltd.; Serigraph Inc; Steffes & Associates; The Alliance; ThedaCare, Inc.; Thurman Financial Services; United Healthcare; US Bank; Wachovia Insurance Services; Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality; Wisconsin Health Information Organization; Wisconsin Medical Society; Wisconsin Physicians Service; the Department of Employee Trust Funds; City of Milwaukee Health Department; and the Department of Health and Family Services.
The executives pledged to provide quality and price information about doctors, hospitals and other medical providers for all enrollees in their health care insurance programs. This information will help employees choose health care providers based on the quality of care they deliver and the prices they charge.
In addition, the employers will support health information technology by encouraging the use of recognized interoperability standards in the health IT products used by their health plans. They also pledged to develop incentives for achieving better value in health care, including incentives for high quality care and for more active involvement by employees in choosing their health care services.
President Bush committed federal health programs to the four cornerstones through an Executive Order last August. In November, Secretary Leavitt invited all employers, in both the private and public sectors, to take these same four steps. By committing to these goals, Secretary Leavitt said, “Our individual actions will be aligned toward reaching the common national goal of better health at lower costs for all Americans. Today, purchasers in Wisconsin are joining with the federal government in adopting the four cornerstones of value-driven health care.”
“I am proud that leading Wisconsin employers are choosing to support these four cornerstones to achieve better health care and better value for employees and their families,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Until now, it has not been possible for patients to learn in advance about the quality of care they can expect to receive from a provider, or the cost of the services they will incur. By making this information available, employers can help their employees get better care and better value in health care.
The Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality was recognized as a pilot site to provide better quality information (BQI) to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries. There are six collaboratives in the country that have been chosen as pilots to pioneer new methods of reporting on quality of care, especially through the use of Medicare data. The techniques proven by these pilot sites will be used by other collaboratives in the future as we build a national network of organizations for providing information to help compare the performance and costs of health care providers.
“Six organizations have been chosen to lead the way as we develop a national network for public reporting, and I’m proud to officially designate the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality as one of these,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Their work will help pioneer a new era of public reporting and improved value for health care providers.”
“With the commitment that Wisconsin employers like these are now making, I expect many changes in health care,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Patients will come to expect quality and performance information about health care providers. They will expect to have price or cost information in advance to make good value decisions about their care. They will use this information to improve health care value for themselves and their families. And the choices they make will help improve value and health care quality across the health care sector.”
More information on Value-Driven Health Care is available at http://www.hhs.gov/transparency. For a full list of companies who have signed statements of support, including those signing in Wisconsin today, visit: http://www.hhs.gov/transparency/employers/statements.html.
Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news.
