Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement Announces Expansion of Project to Measure and Compare Healthcare Costs Across U.S. Regions
Portland, ME, November 16, 2017 — The Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI) has selected five organizations to join its groundbreaking project to measure and report on the total cost of healthcare (Total Cost of Care or TCoC) in regions across the U.S.
The project is part of NRHI’s Getting to Affordability initiative, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and seeks to answer such critical questions as: What does healthcare cost in my community? Why does healthcare cost more in some places than others? and What’s driving the differences in costs for the same services or procedures?
The Greater Detroit Area Health Council, HealthInsight New Mexico, HealthInsight Nevada, Integrated Healthcare Association, and California Healthcare Performance Information System will join nine other organizations that have received funding to address regional barriers to measuring and reporting Total Cost of Care.
“The Total Cost of Care project is helping to shed light on the differences in healthcare costs in various parts of the country,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, president and CEO of NRHI. “You can’t solve a problem until you understand it, and understanding what is driving healthcare costs in different regions is critical to achieving more affordable healthcare.”
Some of the project’s current grantees, Washington Health Alliance, HealthInsight Oregon, HealthInsight Utah, Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, and Virginia Health Information will receive additional funding to continue their work, and will share their strategies and lessons learned to inform and accelerate the work of other regions.
“This next phase will further efforts to standardize the way in which we produce, share, and use information about the total cost of care, and as importantly, help identify and find solutions to the barriers to this critical information. No one needs to start from scratch.” said Ellen Gagnon, NRHI’s executive director, healthcare affordability.
For more information about the project, see its January 2017 report “From Claims to Clarity: Deriving Actionable Healthcare Cost Benchmarks from Aggregated Commercial Claims Data,” which provided the first-ever comparison of what commercial insurers are paying for healthcare in different regions of the country.
About NRHI
NRHI represents more than 30 regional health improvement collaboratives (RHICs) and state-affiliated partners, all working toward the goals of better health, better care, and lower costs. RHICs provide a neutral, trusted mechanism through which communities can plan, facilitate, and coordinate the activities required for successful transformation of their healthcare systems. RHICs’ deep local and regional knowledge makes them uniquely qualified to help develop innovative solutions to their communities’ particular needs. Follow us on Twitter at @RegHealthImp.
About RWJF
For more than 40 years the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has worked to improve health and health care. We are working with others to build a national Culture of Health enabling everyone in America to live longer, healthier lives. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org. Follow the Foundation on Twitter at www.rwjf.org/twitter or on Facebook at www.rwjf.org/facebook.
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