Authors: John Toussaint, Stephen Shortell, Melissa MannonThe healthcare industry must change in order to provide higher quality care and lower costs for patients; one method to improve both cost and quality used in Wisconsin and California is leveraging publicly reported claims and costs data. Wisconsin has been building comprehensive, publicly available clinical and administrative data sets: the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) established in 2003 and the Wisconsin Health Information Organization (WHIO) established in 2009. The WCHQ and the WHIO allow physician groups to compare themselves with one another on cost and quality across 920 distinct episode treatment groups (ETGs). The ETGs include all components of care for a specific disease during a defined period. Since 2002 California has developed public reporting of quality data for physician groups and health plans through its Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) and since 2008 its Right Care Initiative (RCI). In both states these data are used to identify best practices and opportunities for improvement, enhance care outcomes, and increase value for patients.
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