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Leading health systems start quality project
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Dec. 27, 2010
Six prominent health systems announced in December that they will share data on outcomes, quality and costs on selected conditions and treatments in an effort to improve care and cut expenses.
The members of the quality collaborative are the Cleveland Clinic; Denver Health; Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic; the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pa.; Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City; and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H.
The project initially will focus on ways to improve quality and cut costs in eight areas: diabetes, labor and delivery, asthma, spine surgery, knee replacement, heart failure, weight loss surgery and depression. Together, the six systems care for more than 10 million patients.
Officials said they hope pooling quality information will help spur adoption of best practices and that other health systems will join the effort. The data sharing and analysis will be coordinated by the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2010/12/27/prbf1227.htm.
