The Health Council plays a leading role in several locally-led national health care transformation efforts that bring together various stakeholder groups to improve health care quality, cost-effectiveness and outcomes for the region.
It is exciting to help guide these efforts that hold such promise for the future – both for the Tristate and for the nation as Greater Cincinnati remains a region being “watched” by national leaders due to our proven track record of facilitating QI-related work that achieves measurable improvements in care. The Council coordinates members’ participation in these critical efforts as the region works in a coordinated manner toward specific shared objectives. In particular, these are some of the specific focus areas for Health Council member involvement:
Among the broad community goals we are helping to support through our own work and by collaborating with other stakeholders are the following:
In addition, area hospitals participating in the Accountable Care Leadership Team have committed to reduce heart failure all-cause heart failure readmission rates for the 18 years and older population.
As a lead organization working with HealthBridge to facilitate its $13.8 million federally funded Greater Cincinnati Beacon Collaboration – aimed at using health information technology to achieve lower costs, better health and improved patient care – the Council serves as the main facilitator of inpatient care improvement as it relates to the entire continuum of a patient’s care needs. This includes improving data flows, standardizing processes, reducing disparities, improving care transitions and exploring potential new models of care delivery and payment reform.
The Council also is a partner in Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q), an effort of the Health Collaborative that pulls together consumer groups, health plans, physicians, employers, federally qualified health centers, the regional health information organization (HealthBridge) and others in a coordinated effort around improving health care quality. The effort is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
As part of AF4Q, the Council and its member hospitals are taking a comprehensive approach to disparity reduction as part of “Cincinnati Expecting Success” – a Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative led by the Council on behalf of the Health Collaborative.