National Experts Discuss Healthcare Quality - What Is It, Where Is It Going, and How Will It Be Impacted by Healthcare Reform?

American Journal of Managed Care Launches Quality Enterprise Roundtable

For Immediate Release

November 26, 2012

National Experts Discuss Healthcare Quality — What Is It, Where Is It Going, and How Will It Be Impacted by Healthcare Reform?

Plainsboro, NJ-The American Journal of Managed Care today published “The Quality Enterprise: What Is It, Where Is It Going, and How Will It Be Impacted by Healthcare Reform,” a new resource exploring the shift to measuring and rewarding healthcare quality in the U.S.

This virtual roundtable from the American Journal of Managed Care is designed to educate managed care professionals on the challenges, opportunities, and necessary steps to transition healthcare from a fee-for-service model to a quality-based healthcare delivery model that incentivizes and rewards quality.

“Healthcare costs have grown in excess of inflation and wage growth. Americans are paying more for healthcare, but they think they’re getting less in return. It’s time for a change,” said roundtable moderator Peter Salgo, MD.

Dr Salgo is a professor of medicine and anaesthesiology at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and he maintains a full-time practice in intensive care medicine in the Open Heart ICU at Columbia. Additionally, he is a director of surgical intensive care at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and is chairman of the Inter-ICU Committee.

“The healthcare industry is moving-some voluntarily, some kicking and screaming-toward a new and hopefully sustainable quality-and value-focused system. To succeed, the diverse elements of the healthcare universe and each individual in it must participate, elaborate, and coordinate,” Dr Salgo continued.

During the recorded roundtable discussion, experts delved into the main challenges impacting the shift to rewarding healthcare quality.

The speakers discussed the quality enterprise process, defined value-based purchasing and its link to healthcare quality, noted the key players and stakeholders involved in delivering and improving evidence-based care, and suggested ways to proactively address current challenges, as well as highlighted the organizations on all levels of healthcare that have incorporated the quality enterprise into value-based purchasing programs.

The program featured the perspectives of Dr Allen Dobson, president and CEO of Community Care of North Carolina, Marcia James, director of provider engagement for Humana, Dennis White from the National Business Coalition on Health, Dr Jed Weissberg, senior vice president of hospital, quality, and care delivery excellence at Kaiser Permanente, Margaret O’Kane from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and Dr Tom Valuck of the National Quality Forum.

The Quality Enterprise Roundtable was funded and supported by GlaxoSmithKline as part of the company’s effort to encourage meaningful discussion about improving healthcare quality for patients and lowering costs in the U.S.

To watch this complete roundtable discussion, please visit www.AJMC.com/QEroundtable.

About The American Journal of Managed Care

The American Journal of Managed Care is an independent, peer-reviewed publication dedicated to publishing original research in healthcare outcomes and creating a forum for scientific communication in the ever-evolving field of healthcare delivery. The journal is indexed in MEDLINE/PUBMED. AJMC is published by the Intellisphere Managed Market Group, which is owned by MJH & Associates. For more information, please contact Tobin Sharp, Group Editorial Director, The American Journal of Managed Care at 609.716.7777 or tsharp@ajmc.com.