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Spring Newsletter 2013

In This Issue
Making the Connections!
NH Gets an A in Health Care Price Transparency!
Updates
News and Notes
Greetings!

Winter has been a little slow in leaving us this year, but that has not slowed down the Initiative's work to help New Hampshire to an even better health future with better health, better care, and lower costs for all. Our partners and collaborators have not paused for a second as they work to move forward important efforts in using health system and data to support accountable care, integrating public health and clinical care, and helping our state articulate a vision of its health future. Read on!

Jeanne Ryer

Please stay in touch! If you have questions about any of our projects or activities, please email us and visit our web site. And remember to LIKE The Initiative on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @CitizensHealth.

 

Making the Connections!

The Initiative's 2012 Annual Report, Making the Connections, is out with a focus on how the Initiative is "making the connections" between health and health care and health care costs. The Report has been shared with Senate and House leaders, and we were invited to present our work to Governor Maggie Hassan and to a joint educational session of the House Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Health and Human Services Committees.

 

NH Gets an A in Health Care Price Transparency!

New Hampshire is one of only two states nationally to get an A for health care price transparency; only 14 states got a C or better. Citing NH's HealthCost web site and acknowledging the importance of All Payor Claims Databases, the Health Care Improvement Incentives Institute (HCI3) and Catalyst for Payment Reform noted the importance of transparency in health care prices.

 

Exciting Spring Events!

Northern New England Health Care Transformation Symposium Health care providers, purchasers and stakeholders from New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine will come together at UNH Durham on May 21 to share learning on advancing change in health care system transformation. Jay Want, MD, past chair of Center for Improving Value in Health Care in Colorado, a public-private partnership purposed to catalyze health care reform in the state will be keynote speaker. Want is a CMS Innovation Advisor for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and recognized for leadership in health policy by the Colorado Health Foundation.The Symposium will also include presentations and panel discussions highlighting health transformation work across northern New England, including using data to drive system change; regional tools for learning and collaboration, and funders' perspectives on supporting transformation. Sponsors include Anthem, CIGNA and Harvard Pilgrim and funders Jessie B. Cox Trust, Endowment for Health, Maine Health Access Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. For online registration...

 

TEDMED Live 2013

Join in on some of the most exciting conversations about the future of health care!Thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Initiative has access to the TEDMED live stream from April 16 through 18 and to the archive presentations until April 21.  Thanks to our partnership with TEDMED, you'll have personal online access to TEDMED's entire program of more than 60 remarkable speakers from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC at no charge. Simply to go to  www.tedmedlive.org, select Citizens Health Initiative for Your Organization from the drop down and enter Affiliate ID L32693. Enter your email address, answer a couple of questions, and you'll be granted access. You can watch all sessions in real-time during the live schedule on April 16-19 or on-demand shortly after each session through April 21.   

 

 Updates
The Initiative's Accountable Care Project is moving quickly with 16 provider groups participating, along with insurer, government, and public stakeholders.
Participants are seeing early runs of data and participating in learning webinars. On March 27,Harold D. Miller, of the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform came to NH to work with the Project Leadership Advisory Committee to help develop a plan to sustain the project. Miller also presented an evening seminar, "Win-Win-Win Approaches to Accountable Care," co-sponsored by the Initiative, the NH Medical Society and the NH Hospital Association.
 

The Health Promotion and Disease Prevention work group recently released

The Clinician's Role in Integrating Medicine and Public Health to Improve Individual and Population Health: A Primer and Call to Action. We encourage you to share this resource with clinical colleagues! The work group also coordinated a successful panel at the NH Public Health Association Fall Forum examining opportunities to integrate the tobacco prevention and control work of the medical, oral health, public health, and behavioral health disciplines in NH. Follow-up planning is underway.

 

The Roadmap for NH's Health moves from planning to doing as it awaits official population projections for the State of New Hampshire. The Roadmap will develop an interactive web mapping tool that will show NH's current health and population and where we're headed, leading to important community and policy conversations.

 

News and Notes
Yvonne Goldsberry, PhD, has been tapped to be the Chair of the Initiative's Leadership Advisory Board. As Co-Chair of the Initiative's Health Promotion and  Disease Prevention team, Yvonne has been effective (and tireless) in advancing work on integration of public health and clinical care.  Yvonne was recently recognized by Keene State College as one of the Outstanding Women of New Hampshire. We look forward to her leadership in this expanded role!

 

Sharon Beaty, MBA, FACMPE will join Jose Montero, MD, MPH, as Co-Chair of the Initiative's Health Promotion and Disease Prevention team. As CEO of Mid-State Health Center and leader of the North Country ACO, Sharon brings terrific experience in community health and has been a powerful advocate for primary care-public health integration.

 

We welcome Hwasun Garin as a project director for the Initiative and the Institute for Health Policy and Practice!  Hwasun brings with her a wealth of experience in health care, analytics and technology project management, which she will put to great use on the Accountable Care Project!

Initiative Director Jeanne Ryer has been appointed to the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Advisory Council (CEPAC). CEPAC provides objective, independent guidance on how comparative effectiveness information can best be used by patients, clinicians, and payers across New England to improve the quality and value of health care services.

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