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IHA's newsletter is issued quarterly and provides key updates on IHA programs, initiatives, and publications.
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Message from the 'Chief Collaboration Officer'
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With the release earlier this month of the 2nd edition of the
California Regional Health Care Quality & Cost Atlas
, California joins just a handful of states with comprehensive health care performance measurement and benchmarking initiatives.
T
he updated Atlas includes more Californians (29 million in fact) and incorporates new characteristics--large group, small group, and individual coverage; self-insured employers; risk-sharing arrangements; accountable care organizations (ACOs); and clinical condition cohorts--to allow more comparisons among market segments, subpopulations, and the overall insured population. And thanks to continued support from the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF), IHA is already at work on Atlas 3.0, slated for release with 2017 data in late 2018.
The Atlas is just one of many examples of how health care organizations and leaders across the state are working together to advance high-quality, affordable, patient-centered care for all Californians. Just as CHCF's financial support has been critical to the Atlas, the voluntary participation of the 10 health plans contributing data is also essential to the Atlas' success. Another example of California health care stakeholders embracing common goals is evident in the progress being made regarding the new comprehensive statewide provider directory that will offer a single place for health plans and providers to update their directory data. Similarly, almost two dozen leading California health care purchasers, plans, providers, and associations have endorsed an IHA-Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) initiative to standardize ACO performance measurement and benchmarking to reduce reporting burden and make measurement more meaningful to clinicians. And last but not least, yet another IHA-convened and CHCF-supported stakeholder group--Smart Care California--is working to promote safe, affordable care.
You are all making a difference through collaboration, and IHA is proud to be a partner and convener in this work.
In this newsletter, read more about: 1) the Quality & Cost Atlas; 2) the statewide Provider Directory Utility; 3) IHA's 2018 Stakeholders Meeting; 4) the ACO measurement initiative; 5)
Smart Care California Hospital C-Section Honor Roll; 6) upcoming IHA conference presentations; and 7) meet IHA's Data Engineer Drew Gaskell.
-Jeff Rideout, M.D.
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California Regional Health Care Quality & Cost Atlas 2.0 Launched
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Which of the state's 19 regions have the highest costs? How do different insurance products compare on cost and quality for different clinical conditions? These are just a couple of the questions that the 2nd edition of the online
California Regional Health Care Quality & Cost Atlas
can help answer.
Across California, health care costs and quality vary widely. Unwarranted variation potentially can harm patients and waste scarce resources. Benchmarking and tracking performance on key quality and cost measures is critical to reducing unwarranted variation and achieving high-quality, affordable, patient-centered care. As the state's only source of comparable performance information about the care provided to 29 million Californians, the Atlas brings together multi-payer data from 2013 and 2015, including commercial insurance, Medicare, and Medi-Cal, to help purchasers, health plans, and policymakers target performance improvement initiatives. With continued CHCF support and participation by health plans, IHA will update the Atlas with 2017 data by the end of 2018. For additional information, access the Atlas
News Release
and
Fact Sheet
.
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IHA's Progress Building the Statewide Provider Directory Utility
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M
aintaining accurate provider directories remains a challenge, despite the extensive resources that health plans and providers continue to invest in fixing the problem. To tackle this complex challenge, IHA is working with health care leaders across California, including plans, providers, regulators, associations, consumer representatives, and other stakeholders, to build the first-of-its-kind statewide Provider Directory Utility that supports compliance requirements. This will be a single place for health care providers and commercial, Medicare, and Medi-Cal plans to update their data and find on-demand and accurate data.
We are moving quickly to build and pilot test the Provider Directory Utility with California health plans and providers. Over the past few months, IHA conducted a thorough RFP process for choosing a technology vendor. With the completion of the RFP phase of this project nearing, the IHA team is gearing up to oversee the technical build and pilot testing of this web-based platform. We look forward to announcing the vendor soon.
IHA is also partnering with the Department of Managed Healthcare (DMHC) to educate providers and health plans about the Provider Directory Utility initiative throughout 2018.
Sign up to receive updates about the Provider Directory Utility here.
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Save the Date: 2018 IHA Stakeholders Meeting Set for Oct. 3
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Mark your calendars for the 17th Annual IHA Stakeholders Meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 3, at the
Hilton LAX in Los Angeles. The meeting is the annual forum for all California Value Based P4P participants and other IHA stakeholders to receive key program information, learn about performance measurement initiatives affecting California providers, and share quality improvement best practices. Stay tuned for additional meeting and registration information.
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ACO Measurement Initiative Launches
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Nearly two dozen leading California health care purchasers, plans, providers, and other stakeholders have endorsed an IHA-PBGH initiative to standardize ACO performance measurement and benchmarking. The goal is to develop and implement a standardized quality and cost performance measure set for commercial ACOs that meets the needs of participating purchasers, health plans and providers. This will help to improve care while advancing national efforts for coordinated, meaningful performance measurement that promotes high-value care.
Participants and supporters include four of the state's largest commercial health plans--Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, and Health Net, leading purchasers--Boeing, CalPERS, Covered California, Google, and the University of California Office of the President, and prominent providers participating in ACOs across the state, including Cedars-Sinai, Brown & Toland Physicians, HealthCare Partners, Hill Physicians, John Muir Health, MemorialCare Medical Foundation, Monarch HealthCare - Part of OptumCare, NAMM California - Part of OptumCare, Providence Health and Services, Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group, Stanford Health Care, Sutter Health, and UC Davis Health. The effort builds on IHA's other successful performance measurement and benchmarking programs for California physician organizations participating in commercial and Medicare Advantage health plan provider networks. More information about the
Commercial ACO Measurement & Benchmarking Initiative
is available online.
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CHHS Announces Hospital C-Section Honor Roll
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On behalf of Smart Care California, the
California Health and Human Services Agency
recently recognized the 111 California hospitals that have met or surpassed the federal Healthy People 2020 C-section target of 23.9 percent for low-risk, first-birth deliveries. Nearly 80 percent of hospitals, or 86 out of the 111 honorees, achieved Honor Roll status two years in a row, based on 2015 and 2016 hospital discharge data. The awards recognize an
honor roll of California hospitals
and their clinicians and care teams who are leading the way toward safer births and healthier babies and mothers. The annual recognition is designed to raise awareness and encourage more hospitals and clinicians to provide only medically necessary C-sections. More than a dozen media outlets across the state covered the announcement, and a sampling of media coverage is available
online
.
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 Upcoming IHA Conference Presentations
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April 11 CAHP Seminar: IHA VP of Strategic Initiatives, Eyal Gurion will present on our progress building the Provider Directory Utility, along with DMHC Director Shelley Rouillard, at a
California Association of Health Plan's seminar
on California's Path to Increased Accuracy, April 11, at the Burbank Airport Marriott. Don't miss this deep dive discussion on our progress, challenges, implementation plans, and effective methods for collaboration between providers and plans.
April 19-21 APG Conference: IHA's Jeff Rideout and Dolores Yanagihara will present updated findings from the California Regional Health Care Quality & Cost Atlas
at the America's Physician Groups 2018 Annual Conference, April 19-21 in San Diego, during a Friday, April 20 session from 10-11:30 a.m. Learn more and register on the
APG conference website
.
Meet other members of the IHA team at our booth during the exhibit fair and strolling dinner on Friday, April 20 from 6-9 p.m. Stop by and take a guided tour of the Atlas (
https://atlas.iha.org)
and hear about our progress building the statewide Provider Directory Utility.
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Drew Gaskell, Data Engineer
Drew Gaskell is a Data Engineer for IHA initiatives including the Value Based Pay for Performance (VBP4P) Program and Practice Transformation Initiative (PTI). Drew develops data pipelines, data storage, performs analysis, generates reports and supports the web portal backend. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Davis. In addition to writing cool Python scripts, Drew enjoys rock climbing, playing bass guitar, riding his motorcycle, and exploring the world with his 1.5 year old daughter Ivabelle.
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