Monthly Archive for November, 2010

CMI promises to foster innovation

By Diana Birkett Rakow

Much debate over how best to fix the problems in the health care system has centered around how much to rely on the private market versus the public sector. Advocates for reliance on the private market argue that competition and market forces spur innovation and better solutions.

True, in part. At Group Health, we have made amazing improvements in primary care by testing, evaluating, and finally implementing a new medical home model. Through this model, emergency room visits are down 39 percent and hospitalizations down 19 percent, while patients are healthier and happier with their care. Continue reading ‘CMI promises to foster innovation’

Published on November 22, 2010 in Health Care Reform and Medicare. 2 Comments Tags: , , .

Quality Lessons

By Scott Armstrong

Heated discussions rage over rising costs and the lack of access to affordable care. Medical professionals argue about whether we should pay for prevention or just procedures. Accusations fly about how changes to the way medical care is delivered could lead to socialism.

While it may sound a lot like the great American health care debates of the last few years, what I’m actually referring to is the turbulent time in 1946 when Group Health, the Seattle-based health care cooperative that I lead, was created. Continue reading ‘Quality Lessons’

Published on November 15, 2010 in Health Care Reform, Preventive Care and Quality Health Care. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

Political climate change: Five ways Group Health Research Institute weathers the storm

By Eric Larson, MD, MPH

As the dust settles over Tuesday’s midterm election, you may wonder how the outcome may affect Group Health Research Institute’s (GHRI’s) work for affordable excellence in health care. Here’s why I think it only makes our work more salient:

  1. We’re focused on solutions. While echoing voters’ concerns over the future of Medicare and other entitlements, the rising national deficit, and a still-floundering economy, few politicians offered concrete answers. So it’s hard to predict how lawmakers may try to steer health care reform. But whoever controls the U.S. House and Senate, economists predict our country must find ways to control spending on health care—or face financial collapse.  Continue reading ‘Political climate change: Five ways Group Health Research Institute weathers the storm’
Published on November 5, 2010 in Uncategorized. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Producer Symposium a Hit

By Eric Larson, MD, MPH

This week Group Health hosted our 2nd annual Producer Symposiums in Seattle and Spokane focusing on The Future of Health Care. For those of you who may not be familiar with the term, a “producer” is what we formerly called ” agents and brokers” before the state moved from a dual-license system (agents/brokers) to a single-license system (producers) in 2009.

Given the election this week, it was a fascinating time to be discussing health care reform.  We were pleased to be able to provide some insight into how we believe health care reform will impact our industry. Our guest speaker, Dr. Len Nichols, health economist and policy analyst at George Mason University, also shared his insights and illustrated that — no matter what happens on election day — we do not have the option of doing nothing.  Continue reading ‘Producer Symposium a Hit’

Published on November 5, 2010 in Health Care Reform. 0 Comments