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CONTACT INFORMATION:

Patricia Donovan
Voice: 732.528.4468
Fax: 732.292.3073
E-mail: pdonovan@hin.com
Web site: www.hin.com

Toward Transparency in Healthcare:
Competing for Quality and Consumers

• Demands for cost and quality transparency is a hot-button issue in the healthcare arena — In this special report, three contributing authors discuss the challenges of incorporating public reporting as part of an integrated strategy, collaborating with providers, and developing objective metrics and reliable data.
  
  
• Contributing Authors: Paul L. Green, director of clinical quality improvement for John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital; Christine Profita Orok, project leader of cost and quality at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts; and Paul Thompson, product development director with Cigna Healthcare.
  
  
• Report Highlights: The origins, audience, usage and impact of healthcare report cards; goals of public reporting and strategies for posting public reporting data; incentive and promotion programs associated with transparency participation; seven-page Q&A section with the contributing authors.
  
  
• Target Audience: CEOs, presidents, strategic planning directors, quality improvement executives, CIO’s, information technology and systems executives, medical directors and product development and marketing executives.
  
  
• Report Conference Formats: This 46-page special report is available in both print and PDF format. For ordering information, please visit http://www.hin.com/cgi-local/link/news/pl.cgi?towardtransparencypr.
  
  
• About the Healthcare Intelligence Network -- HIN is the premier advisory service for executives seeking high-quality strategic information on the business of healthcare. Contact the Healthcare Intelligence Network, PO Box 1442, Wall Township, NJ 07719-1442, (888) 446-3530, fax (732) 292-3073, e-mail info@hin.com, or visit http://www.hin.com

QUOTE ATTRIBUTABLE TO PAUL L. GREEN:

• “All of these public pushes, specifically data coming from the Joint Commission and CMS, are to drive more information to the public to enable them to make better decisions regarding their choice for healthcare services. Publishing comparative data on hospitals creates competition for quality, which will raise the bar for the performance of hospitals across the country. This, in turn, reduces the cost burden of poor care. When safety and quality problems exist, the cost of care is much higher than quality care that is efficient and safe.”

QUOTE ATTRIBUTABLE TO CHRISTINE PROFITA OROK:

• "We use many vehicles to promote our program to our members. It’s very important to collect data and get providers engaged. It’s equally important to get members to use the data.”

QUOTE ATTRIBUTABLE TO PAUL THOMPSON:

• "We want to facilitate a multi-choice scenario for members by providing broad access, and hope to drive behaviors through incentive and information instead of limiting access to specialists via the quality and efficiency profiling.”

QUOTE ATTRIBUTABLE TO MELANIE MATTHEWS, HIN EXECUTIVE VP AND COO:

Click here for Melanie Matthews's profile.

• "As consumers call for more transparency in the healthcare industry, healthcare officials are facing many challenges to meet this growing demand. Obstacles such as technological delays and cooperation at the corporate level are making this demand a difficult one to meet. The entire healthcare industry must commit to meeting the demand for transparency or face the risk of losing business as a result.”

Download HIN white paper -- "Educating Consumers on Consumer-Driven Healthcare"

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