Linking Cost and Quality of Patient Outcomes Drives Improvements

ThedaCare Center releases white paper on measuring value

Published: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 - 12:12

(ThedaCare: Appleton, WI) -- The ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value has published a new white paper, “Measuring Value: Linking Cost and Quality of Patient Outcomes to Drive Organization and Industry Improvements.” This health care value report illustrates the power of value metrics in improving U.S. health care.

Patient value, as defined by the center, is quality divided by cost. The ability to link quality of care with the cost of care (i.e., value) has previously been nearly impossible in health care. Unfortunately, as a result, the United States ranks in the bottom quartile for life expectancy but spends more per capita on health care than any other industrial country. It’s a trend the center hopes to reverse.

The health care value report introduces a methodology for tracking value, and positions value measurement as a foundation for addressing a variety of health industry concerns. It also offers examples of organizations and health systems that are already involved in the groundbreaking work to establish quantifiable value metrics, including the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ), the Partnership for Healthcare Payment Reform (PHPR), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NHRI).

“Not only do we have to create these measures, we also have to publicly report them in order to drive change,” says John Toussaint, M.D., CEO of the center. “If you have to put all your value metrics in the newspaper, and half of them look terrible, you’re going to change. This is another key component to the metric. It’s not just creating a metric but making it transparent to the industry.”

Measuring Healthcare Value, now available at www.createvalue.org, is a tool to unite industry leaders behind the center’s vision for a lean, patient-driven approach to care within a marketplace that rewards value.

“Most organizations and systems simply do not understand the scope of what needs to be measured, and so they fall back on what was measured before, which is primarily health care quality,” says Julie Bartels, executive vice president of national health care information at the center. “That is a great start, but it is an incomplete picture. You don’t necessarily drive efficiencies based on quality measurements, and without a focus on value, we cannot get cost under control.”

The ThedaCare Center for Healthcare Value brings together the most thoughtful leaders in business and health care to drive value-based health care. Working collaboratively with providers and purchasers, the center will identify the best examples of revolutionary thinking both in the way care is delivered as well as the way care is reimbursed. The end result is greater value for patients and purchasers.

About The Author

ThedaCare

ThedaCare is a community health system consisting of five hospitals, numerous clinics, and related services. It is the third largest health care employer in Wisconsin. ThedaCare offers an environment that not only welcomes but also encourages innovative thinking and fresh approaches to today’s health care challenges. ThedaCare has improved the health of thousands of individuals. It knows this because it tracks its quality and constantly seeks to improve its care and services for the members of its communities. ThedaCare’s corporate office is in Appleton, Wisconsin.