Puget Sound Health Alliance Leaps into 2013
17 Jan 2013
The Puget Sound Health Alliance (PSHA), a member of Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), has opened the New Year with a series of exciting events including the unveiling of its new public reporting website and the release of its second comprehensive medical group survey.
With a format focused on user-friendly access, the Alliance’s newly redesigned Community Checkup website successfully presents its trustworthy information on quality care in the state of Washington. The site encourages people to take a more active role in their health by promoting steps for consumers to ensure they receive highâquality care. This includes useful tips and information to help them learn what they can do themselves and what they should expect from their providers.
The redesign also marks PGHA’s first time offering comparative information at the individual provider level. The new site includes data on how well primary care providers in the region are doing in meeting quality care measures for prescribing generic drugs in four drug classes: statins, antidepressants, pain relievers, and stomach acid-reducing drugs.
Incorporated throughout the new website are the recently released 2012 Medical Group Survey Results. The Puget Sound Health Alliance surveyed primary care medical groups and clinics currently participating in their Community Checkup program. The response included 42 medical groups (79 percent response rate) representing approximately 237 clinic locations and 1,475 primary care providers. The self-reported information helps the Alliance, consumers, and providers gain a sense of areas where the region is doing well, where gaps in performance exist, and where there are opportunities to improve. The findings offer a community-wide scan of the progress primary care providers are making in adopting and using processes and tools known to advance effective patient care.
Highlights of the results include:
- Medical groups substantially improved in the ability to capture patients’ preferred language, race, and ethnicity data.
- Care coordination and patient engagement improved compared to the initial 2010 survey, with better referral systems and outreach to patients who are seen in other facilities.
- Many clinics are conducting in-house patient experience or satisfaction surveys and using the feedback to improve care.
- More than half of the time, extended hours on weeknights and weekends for patient appointments are not available.
View the survey results here. Check out the new website: www.wacommunitycheckup.org