The Seattle-based Alliance -- which includes health care providers, payers, patient representatives and others -- is the first organization designated by the HHS Secretary as a community leader for value-driven health care. As a "community leader" organization, it will support four key national health care goals and work to achieve the four goals at the local and regional level.
The four national "cornerstone" goals identified by Leavitt are:
- Public reporting of quality of care: Every case, every procedure, has an outcome. Some are better than others. "To measure quality, we must work with doctors and hospitals to define benchmarks for what constitutes quality care," according to a statement on the HHS Web site.
- Public reporting of the cost of health services: Price information is useless unless cost is calculated for identical services. Agreement is needed on what procedures and services are covered in each "episode of care."
- Interoperable health information technology: Every medical provider has some system for health records. Increasingly, those systems are electronic. Standards need to be identified so all health information systems can quickly and securely communicate and exchange data.
- Incentives for achieving better value in health care: All parties -- providers, patients, insurance plans and payers --- should participate in arrangements that reward both those who offer and those who purchase high-quality, competitively-price health care.
