 |
New project to develop diabetes
value metric The project was undertaken in response to the concern that cost and quality data viewed independently are no longer sufficient healthcare measures. “Both are important and one cannot be lost at the expense of the other. Our goal is to capture both quality and cost in a value metric or graphic display of value” said Jack Bowhan, the project leader. “We believe development of a value metric will help find improvement opportunities within the system that will be a win-win for all stakeholders. If we are successful developing a value metric for diabetes management, we hope to apply the same methodology to other areas of ambulatory care,” he added. With recent access to the Wisconsin Health Information Organization’s (WHIO) Data Mart, the project intends to blend WCHQ’s quality data with WHIO’s standardized cost data. Bellin Health, ProHealth Care and ThedaCare are working with WCHQ as test site participants for the project. They will test the validity of combining the data to build a value metric and brainstorm potential reports and display options for use with front-line clinical teams. Initial results will be reported at the clinic and specialty level. “The challenge will be to create a reasonable match of patient populations between the two data sets,” said Bowhan. “We are committed to full transparency of our process. Our assumptions will be tested and our results will be fully disclosed as well as our challenges and solutions.” Periodic project updates appearing under the name, ValueWorks,
are planned throughout the rest of the year as well as a final project
report in early 2010. If you have questions about the project, please contact Jack Bowhan at
608-826-6842 or at jbowhan@wchq.org. |
The Collaborative introduced its new project to develop, test and produce
a value metric for the management of diabetes at the WCHQ Assembly held
on July 14. The project is supported by a special Aligning Forces for
Quality grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The metric will
combine patient care outcomes with resource utilization and will be used
to identify opportunities for improvement. 