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Healthcare Improvement Collaborative Asks the Question: 'Can Health Care in California Get Better, Faster?' Initial Results Say 'Yes'

Posted on: Tuesday, 29 May 2007, 12:00 CDT

A collaborative healthcare improvement organization that's achieving higher quality and more efficient outpatient care for millions of Californians is getting a new name to reflect a broader scope: California Quality Collaborative (CQC). The announcement was made today by The Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), The California Association of Physician's Group (CAPG), and Blue Shield of California, Blue Cross of California, and HealthNet of California--the lead sponsors of this unique California collaborative of physician groups, health plans, and businesses.

The three-year-old collaborative--formerly Breakthroughs in Chronic Care Program--is expanding its reach after seeing encouraging initial results in care of chronic conditions among physician group and health plan participants. It wants to move further: CQC is now focusing on improving quality and reducing costs for all Californians. The organization plans to expand its reach from 38 to 110 physician groups. This represents 35,000 outpatient practices, serving more than 13 million Californians.

"Through the California Quality Collaborative, physicians, health plans and purchasers throughout California are all working together to achieve better patient care and a healthier community at a more affordable price," said Diane Stewart, the CQC's director. "We wanted a name that clearly communicates this vision."

CQC offers programs to improve clinical care, such as for patients living with diabetes and heart disease, and improve patient satisfaction with office practice, such as reducing waiting times and boosting customer service skills. The collaborative brings together national experts and physician peer groups to spread best practices and evidence-based, patient-centered care within California. CQC offers practical tools to improve performance based on publicly reported quality measures available at: www.opa.ca.gov/report_card and www.iha.org/p4ptoprf.htm

Results to date have been very promising, with the most engaged practices showing the greatest improvements. Success stories include the following:

In CQC's first initiative, the Diabetes & Cardiovascular Care Collaborative, 13 physician groups and 13 pilot practice sites made dozens of changes in their practices, including improving their information systems and their support for patient self-management. There were significant improvements: 100% of practices improved clinical care with 92% exceeding national benchmarks for at least one clinical metric; and 77% exceeding national benchmarks for at least two metrics. Participating physician groups are spreading these successes across other practices in their networks, ultimately serving a million patients.

A more recent year-long collaborative begun in 2006, the Patient Experience Collaborative, is also showing very strong preliminary results among its 12 participating practices. The practices most actively engaged saw dramatic increases in patient ratings based on the dozens of changes. All groups saw at least some improvement, with the largest increases in patient ratings of continuity and coordination of care. Improvements in this area were particularly welcome, as it is an area in which statewide performance is relatively low, and the availability of tools for improvement is lacking. Physician group leaders are introducing improvements more broadly for the 400,000 patients they serve.

To date, 38 physician groups have benefits from programs to strengthen quality leadership, promote electronic health records, as well as improve patient satisfaction and chronic care management.

"CQC has become a sanctuary where good will, good brains, and real trust come together to reach a shared goal of accelerating quality improvement. It's wonderful to watch the artificial barriers between purchasers, plans, and groups disappear as we find common ground solutions," said Wells Shoemaker, MD, medical director of CAPG and co-chair of the CQC Steering Committee.

The Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) houses CQC and represents the region's most prominent businesses. "By bringing together medical groups and health plans, leading businesses are excited to be catalysts for improving healthcare for all Californians," said Peter Lee, CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a key sponsor of CQC. "Employers are involved in this effort because they recognize that promoting prevention and self-management of chronic illness means we have a healthier workforce and lower healthcare costs."

"Across the country, people recognize that our healthcare system is broken. It is going to take concerted effort on all of our parts to fix it," said Gifford Boyce-Smith, MD, senior medical director of quality management of Blue Shield of California, and co-chair of the CQC Steering Committee. "With CQC, all of the right groups are around the table, working together to achieve better quality care at a more affordable price."

CQC is supported by a statewide leadership alliance of businesses, health plans and physician groups committed to improving healthcare value and reliability in California. The organization is sponsored by the Pacific Business Group on Health, the California Association of Physician Groups, and leading health plans in California including Blue Shield of California, Blue Cross of California Foundation, and HealthNet. CQC programming is also sponsored by Novo Nordisk, Sanofi Aventis and California HealthCare Foundation.

Source: Business Wire

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