ARE OREGONIANS RECEIVING HIGH-QUALITY CARE? REPORT REVEALS TRENDS AND VARIATIONS ACROSS THE STATE

Oregon's primary care performance exceeds national averages in some areas, shows opportunities for improvement in others

PORTLAND, ORE. (February 23, 2011) - Information about the performance of doctors is crucial to improving health care delivery and meeting the goals of health care reform. A collaboration of Oregon practitioners, insurers, employers, consumers and government officials is working to provide this information through an initiative called Partner for Quality Care. Today, the initiative launched its second statewide report on primary care performance and updated quality "scores" for Oregon doctors' offices and medical groups on www.PartnerForQualityCare.org.

Ten Oregon health plans contributed claims data, representing care given to more than 1.8 million Oregonians, to the Partner for Quality Care initiative. The report, Information for a Healthy Oregon: Statewide Report on Health Care Quality, summarizes primary care performance based on this data for doctors' offices with four or more primary care practitioners.

"Oregon is unique in its collaborative efforts to improve the quality of health care," says Mylia Christensen, executive director of the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation (Quality Corp), the non-profit organization that manages Partner for Quality Care. "Information for a Healthy Oregon provides an important snapshot of primary care quality in our state and tells the story of how clinicians and other key stakeholders use this information to help create a healthier Oregon."

For the first time, Information for a Healthy Oregon is able to report on trends over time since reporting began in 2007. Although measurable improvements have been made in many areas, the report also reveals substantial variation in the quality of care delivered across the state. Key findings from the report include:

* For some areas of care, particularly diabetes care, Oregon's average scores exceed national averages. The strong performance by these clinics and providers demonstrates that high-quality care is achievable and is happening in Oregon.

* However, there is always room for improvement. Although Oregon's average score for appropriate use of medications for people with asthma is 90 percent, this area of care is one example of where Oregon falls below the national average of 93 percent.

* There are also large differences between the lowest and highest performing clinics in some areas of care. For example, while average Chlamydia screening rates in Oregon have improved, the difference between the lowest and highest performing clinics is nearly 70 percentage points. Chlamydia is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted disease in Oregon.

"Partner for Quality Care data helped us identify system-wide issues and areas where we can improve," says Pete Johnson, CEO of North Bend Medical Group. "Now we have a way to start a conversation with our clinics and see what about the work flow is a barrier to providing better care."

Partner for Quality Care posts quality scores for individual doctors' offices and medical groups across the state on a website for the public. The website aims to help Oregonians learn about the care they should be receiving and find doctors who are providing recommended care.

"We send information to all of our members about the Partner for Quality Care website because we want them to make informed decisions about where they go for their care," says Joan Kapowich, administrator of the Public Employees' Benefit Board and the Oregon Educators Benefit Board.

Quality Corp is part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative, a program in 17 communities across the United States. AF4Q is the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's signature effort to lift the overall quality of health care in targeted communities, reduce racial and ethnic disparities, and provide models that will help propel national reform. In 2007, RWJF selected Quality Corp to lead the local AF4Q effort. Quality Corp is also a designated Chartered Value Exchange by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and a member of the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement as a Regional Health Improvement Collaborative.

Looking to the future, Partner for Quality Care is working to report on both the quality and value of health care in Oregon. The need for objective and independent measurement and reporting will increase dramatically as private and public stakeholders implement a variety of health reform strategies.

For more information about Partner for Quality Care, including a copy of the report, visit www.PartnerForQualityCare.org.