Palladian Health, QualityMetric Address Health Reform's Cost/Quality Paradox at AHIP's Institute 2010

LINCOLN, R.I., June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Engaging patients and providers to improve care and control costs will be the focus of a presentation by Palladian Health, LLC, and QualityMetric Incorporated at AHIP's Institute 2010 in Las Vegas on June 11. Is it really possible to improve care while controlling costs? This paradox has long bedeviled policymakers and is a focus of health care reform.

Palladian is a specialty health benefits management company focused on muscular skeletal health that uses QualityMetric's patient-reported outcome (PRO) health surveys at the point of care to drive clinical decision-making, measure treatment effectiveness, and track patient progress. During the presentation, Palladian and QualityMetric will share results and insights from their work that will help others in the industry deliver on the promise of health care reform.

A Universal Measure of Health

"Using QualityMetric's health surveys have helped us evaluate the quality of care received," says Simon Dagenais, DC, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Palladian and one of the presenters. "Previously, providers used a variety of region specific outcomes measures that were time consuming and did not capture all relevant aspects of health. Now we have a universal measure of patient health. It saves everyone time and allows us to measure the impact of care more efficiently and effectively."

By increasing the efficiency and quality of care, QualityMetric's surveys help address one of the biggest issues in health care today: spiraling costs. The surveys remove subjectivity from the equation and help providers determine exactly where a patient is on the recovery continuum. It doesn't matter what the patient's original diagnosis was, or where they started on the continuum. By administering the survey at certain checkpoints, providers can obtain a scientifically valid snapshot of exactly how a patient is progressing. This makes it easier to identify whether or not additional treatment will help a patient, or whether it's time to discharge them. It also helps to pinpoint which therapies are working, and which are not. Patients get the appropriate care in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Measuring Success and Proving Value

Since Palladian began using the surveys, they've been well-received by providers and used on a wide scale. In just six months, the surveys have been administered more than 70,000 times. "We have thousands of providers using these surveys, and they really see the value of tracking these outcomes," reports Dagenais.

The objective nature of the surveys can also help providers measure their own performance. "They can use the aggregated results for their populations to better understand which approaches are returning patients to normal functioning more quickly," says co-presenter Mark Kosinski, MA, Senior Scientist and Vice President at QualityMetric. "This can lead to better, more cost-effective care over the long-term."

In addition to the versatility and reliability of the surveys, Dagenais says their brevity is a big plus. "We researched dozens of separate outcomes measurement tools for physical functioning before we settled on the SF-12v2® Health Survey," he explains. "We would have needed patients to answer hundreds of questions to gather the same information that QualityMetric delivers with just 12 questions. Again, that increases efficiency, while easing the burden on the patient and the provider."

Both Dagenais and Kosinski hope Palladian's story can help improve the delivery of care in a critical moment in the history of our health care system. "We need to find new and innovative ways to provide patients with quality care we all can afford," Kosinski says. "Using PROs at the point of care is one way to move us all toward that goal."

Palladian has deployed the SF-12v2® Health Survey as a patient assessment component of its Integrated Physical Therapy Quality Improvement (PTQI) solution. PTQI is improving physical therapy outcomes while generating material financial savings for health insurers nationwide. Palladian also applies QualityMetric's assessment tools with its Coordinated Spine Care solution which will be demonstrated throughout AHIP. (See Palladian at Booth 103.)

Slides from the Palladian/QualityMetric presentation will be made available to attendees on request and to others after the presentation on June 11, 2010.

About Palladian Health

Palladian provides healthplans and large employer groups with quality, integrated health programs focused on improving both clinical and economic results for the management of spine and muscular skeletal health conditions. Palladian's unique services incorporate a collaborative approach that educates decision makers and stakeholders across an entire care cycle, supporting our mission to provide the best access for clinically excellent and affordable muscular skeletal health.  Palladian Health currently serves more than 5 million members nationwide.

About QualityMetric

QualityMetric works with the world's largest health care and life sciences companies to measure health outcomes. Our products help market new drugs and biologics, track health improvement or decline, screen populations for disease, and identify future health risks. QualityMetric's patient-reported outcome (PRO) surveys provide scientifically valid assessments of both physical and mental health. Our PROs include the SF-36v2®, SF-12v2®, and SF-8™ Health Surveys, Asthma Control Test™ (ACT™), Pain Impact Questionnaire™ (PIQ-6™), and DYNHA® Dynamic Health Assessments. Our Outcomes Insight Consulting™ Division can develop customized PROs and provide in-depth analysis of the results. In March 2010, QualityMetric was acquired by Ingenix, a UnitedHealth Group company. Visit us at www.qualitymetric.com.

SOURCE QualityMetric Incorporated