In the face of sobering reports of highly variable healthcare delivery across the nation, as reported in the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System’s State Scorecard, nine states have been selected to participate in the State Quality Improvement Institute--an intensive effort to help states plan and implement concrete action plans to improve performance across targeted quality indicators. The institute is a collaboration of AcademyHealth and The Commonwealth Fund.
Colorado, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont, and Washington were selected for the institute through a competitive process designed to identify states with the commitment, leadership, and resources necessary. The institute kicks off in April 2008 and concludes in spring 2009.
“Our State Scorecard on Health System Performance found that we could save thousands of lives and billions of dollars if all states could achieve the level of the top performers on key indicators of health outcomes, quality, access, efficiency, and equity,” said Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis. “The State Quality Institute will allow states to learn best practices to improve healthcare quality, and is an important step toward achieving a high-performing healthcare system in the U.S.” Read the press release.
