Action For Better Healthcare

A forum to identify, discuss, confront, and propose solutions to complex non-profit healthcare issues

Hospitals save money and lives with QUEST program

By Kester Freeman
Retired CEO, Palmetto Health

While healthcare reform efforts are on the slow track in Congress, some hospitals are working to save money and improve the quality of their care through their own efforts.

A recent article in HealthLeaders Media details a unique initiative called QUEST. QUEST stands for quality, efficiency, safety and transparency. The program is a joint project with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Premier healthcare alliance. The program is helping save hospitals millions of dollars and is also credited with care improvements that are saving lives. 

The article explains that:

QUEST helps hospitals to do what they have trouble doing alone by establishing a framework and data center that allows hospitals to compare themselves against each other, and a way to collect data and pool knowledge in such a way that sustainable cost and quality improvements can be made more quickly than if they were attempted by a bunch of hospitals operating individually.

Arlington-based Texas Health Resources has 12 hospitals participating in QUEST. The CEO of the healthcare system says the program has helped them save millions of dollars.  

It’s all about trying to discover the best evidence-based protocol you can find. By reducing variation from one doctor to another and one patient to another you improve quality. For the vast majority of patients, this is the best way to improve care.

Most doctors, after seeing the evidence and improved outcomes, will rapidly come on board and embrace standardized care. Every hospital in this country should be considering programs like QUEST.

Let us know what you think. Post your comments below.


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Former healthcare CEO says consider 3 things when finding new doctor

By Ed Howe
Retired president and CEO, Aurora Health Care 

Often people who know my healthcare experience ask me about finding a new primary care physician. My rules of thumb are:

  • Find a doctor in a large group practice. You are more likely to have continuity of care if for some reason your doctor is no longer in practice. Large group practices will have nurse practitioners and physician assistants who may be able to provide much of your care.
  • If you are in your late 50s or early 60s, look for a much younger practitioner. Many doctors will no longer take new Medicare patients. You do not want your doctor to retire when you are vulnerable to rejection because of Medicare.
  • Get to know a pharmacist. It is very common to see patients with a potpourri of drugs, many of which conflict with each other. Personally, I will not use mail order services. I make sure my pharmacist is on top of what I am taking. They are a great resource for a little advice at times when it may be difficult to consult with your doctor.

If you have healthcare questions you want the blog team to answer, post your questions below in the comment area and we will answer them!

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One Response to: “ Former healthcare CEO says consider 3 things when finding new doctor ”

  1. # 1 Michael stephens Says:

    [+]

    Just an observation about seeing your new physician for the first time or speaking with the primary physician caring for an elderl... ...

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Newt Gingrich talks healthcare reform

We sat down with the former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, to get his take on what went wrong these past few months with healthcare reform efforts.

Hear his take on what was wrong with the massive bills and where to go from here so that patients and the American public get the reform they need.

Here is our exclusive interview with Newt Gingrich:

 


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One Response to: “ Newt Gingrich talks healthcare reform ”

  1. # 1 Don Ammon Says:

    [+]

    The summary that Newt Gingrich provided I thought was excellent and was similar to what Ed Howe posted a few months ago idenifying... ...

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Slimy bribes make Americans skeptical about health reform

By Mike Stephens
Retired CEO, Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian

If you want to understand why voters in the recent Massachusetts Senate election were so angry, here’s your answer. 

Just consider the following list of Democrats who exercised their leverage to secure perks for their home state in exchange for voting for a bill sponsored by their own party. 

Now I can understand buying Republican votes to secure passage, but this is simply over the top. Here are just some of the perks that were given in exchange for votes as reported by the Associated Press:

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-NE
PERK - U.S. government picks up the full cost of the expansion of Medicaid in Nebraska. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Nebraska is exempted from the annual fee on insurers.

Sen. Max Baucus, D-MT
PERK - Puts in a provision to help 2,900 residents of Libby, Montana, many with asbestos-related illnesses.

Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-CT
PERK - Adds a provision for $100 million for construction of a hospital at a public university in Connecticut.

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-VT
PERK - $600 million in additional Medicaid benefits for his state over ten years.

Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-LA
PERK - To receive at least $100 million in Medicaid assistance for her state in 2011.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT
PERK - Angry over a government-run health plan being dropped from the reform bill, received millions more for community health centers.

It’s not difficult to see why Americans have become disillusioned with the political process.

It’s disturbing to see that certain lawmakers never miss an opportunity to carve out a piece of pork from a bill even when the goal is to improve lives!

Disgraceful!


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One Response to: “ Slimy bribes make Americans skeptical about health reform ”

  1. # 1 kester freeman Says:

    [+]

    Slimy bribes are nothing new in politics. I guess they are only slimy when they go to someone else. The real problem is they are d... ...

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The problem with health insurance companies

If you want to know why I despise every Republican senator and Democratic senators Ben Nelson, Evan Bayh, Blanche Lincoln, Max Baucus, “Independent (of morals)” Joe Lieberman and probably a bunch more whose names I am repressing, it’s because they enable, support and help entrench as the bedrock of our healthcare system, insurance companies. Here’s what these companies are like:

A Boulder County jury has ruled that a health insurance company must pay $37 million to a Lafayette woman whose health insurance policy was canceled after she was seriously injured in a car accident.

The insurance company had said she failed to disclose previous medical treatments, namely an emergency room visit for shortness of breath and treatment for uterine prolapse. The company refused to cover roughly $185,000 in medical bills from the accident and canceled the woman’s policy.

Latham, now 39, suffered multiple compound fractures and a brain injury when a suspect fleeing police rammed into her car in October 2005 near the intersection of 23rd Avenue and Collyer Street in Longmont.

Latham spent a month at Longmont United Hospital and another month at the Mapleton Center for Rehabilitation, Levy said.

Five months before, she bought an individual health insurance policy from Time Insurance Co. for herself and her two younger children. Her older children were covered under her ex-husband’s insurance through work.

Soon after she was released from the hospital, she received a letter from Time Insurance informing her the company had rescinded her policy and would not pay her expenses from the accident. The decision to cancel her policy also made it nearly impossible for her to get insurance from other companies, Levy said. She now receives Medicare benefits. (Erica Meltzer, Daily Camera [Boulder, CO])

Assurant/Time Insurance aren’t the only insurance company to do things like this. WellPoint Inc., UnitedHealth Group and other big health insurers have canceled coverage of more than 20,000 people, avoiding $300 million in a five-year period. As Mrs. R. is fond of saying, “How do these people sleep at night?”

The CEO of Assurant may not be sleeping so well in the future. Ms. Latham sued his company and her lawyer asked the jury to consider how they think an insurance company should act and to award her $7 million. The jury didn’t agree with her lawyer.

They awarded her $37 million.

This post appeared initially on the public health blog Effect Measure. The editors of Effect Measure are senior public health scientists and practitioners.

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7 Responses to: “ The problem with health insurance companies ”

  1. # 1 michael stephens Says:

    [+]

    Republicans state the key to healthcare reform is to eliminate all state insurance licensing barriers and allow any and all insura... ...

  2. # 2 Moderate Says:

    [+]

    Does the fact that she made "misrepresentations" on her application and would not have been issued a policy but for these lies mea... ...

  3. # 3 Mid-leftie Says:

    [+]

    These types of stories are truly appalling and have become increasingly prevalent. I truly believe that the health insurance comp... ...

  4. # 4 Disenchanted Conservative Says:

    [+]

    This story resonates with me. I have worked since I was 13 years old. I worked my way through college, got an MBA, have held inc... ...

  5. # 5 kester freeman Says:

    [+]

    Wow- What great comments, especially the last from a conservative republican. I don't believe most insurance executives are evil, ... ...

  6. # 6 Ed Howe Says:

    [+]

    Washington has become so corrupt that they will not evan fix what most everyone thinks needs fixing. A little insurance reform, ca... ...

  7. # 7 michael stephens Says:

    [+]

    Our political parties refuse to go beyond political rhetoric to rally the partisan extremes to acknowledge simple, basic truths. ... ...

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