HealthSpan Partners with the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati To Improve Outcomes and To Increase Consumer Access to Quality Data
CINCINNATI, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- HealthSpan Inc., a regional, provider-owned PPO network and Care Management company, is pleased to announce its alignment and support of the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati's Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative to drive improvements in the management of chronic illness. Specifically, HealthSpan is offering financial incentives aligned with AF4Q to support physicians' participation in the public reporting of outpatient diabetes treatment data. Starting with eight physician groups, the intention is to work with more practices within the next year.
Consumers are taking more and more responsibility for their health and related costs, and therefore naturally would want and need greater access to quality data. The Health Collaborative's public reporting and consumer engagement project for diabetes outpatient data is a great example of creating better access to important information for consumers. Diabetes is the first condition that the public report will cover, with additional chronic conditions and other health care performance data available as the project continues.
HealthSpan's President and CEO, Ken Page states: "The Health Collaborative's work is striving to advance the quality of care in primary care settings. As a provider-owned organization, we are very pleased to offer our help and support to physicians pursuing these goals. We plan to establish financial incentives to reward results and work with each practice to customize the arrangement."
HealthSpan stresses patient engagement as a critically important factor in the success of its disease management and wellness programs. HealthSpan applauds the Health Collaborative's efforts and looks forward to partnering with physicians to improve transparency for consumers.
Greg Ebel, Executive Director of the Health Improvement Collaborative said, "HealthSpan sets the example for our community by financially supporting physicians in quality improvement efforts. Health care providers understand the importance of publicly sharing their clinical outcomes and HealthSpan's financial support removes a key barrier to physician participation."
HealthSpan, Inc., headquartered in Cincinnati, is a comprehensive provider-owned network of hospitals, physicians, and ancillary services and is solely owned by Catholic Healthcare Partners, the fourth largest employer in Ohio. HealthSpan continues to grow in prominence, and is recognized as one of the top PPOs in the region. HealthSpan is a leader in providing convenient access to care, with provider participation including greater than 100 hospitals, 10,000+ physicians, and 1,000+ ancillary services throughout Ohio, Greater Cincinnati, Dayton/Springfield, Northern Kentucky and Southeastern Indiana. HealthSpan currently serves 117,000 network members and more than 85,000 care management members.
The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati brings people together to address regional health care issues. On neutral ground facilitated by the Collaborative, these diverse community stakeholders -- hospitals, physicians, insurers, patients, business, government and community members -- generate measurable, sustainable health improvement. Two current initiatives include Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality, a partnership with the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focusing on improving outcomes for the chronically ill; and Cincinnati MD Resource Center, a program to recruit and retain an adequate physician supply for the region. A 2010 Healthcare Hero finalist, the progressive work of the Collaborative has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
SOURCE HealthSpan, Inc.
Share this article