Adventist Health Partners with Blue Shield and The California Health Care Coalition

As the health care debate plays out in Washington, three organizations are moving forward on an innovative pilot program to improve quality and lower costs for thousands of patients each year.

Adventist Health, Blue Shield of California and The California Health Care Coalition (CHCC) have entered into a unique partnership – bringing together a health system, a health plan, and large group purchasers – to launch the Hospital Quality Improvement pilot. The goal: to demonstrate that improvements in quality and patient care not only benefit patients’ well-being, but lead to lower overall costs.

“This pilot program will demonstrate that Adventist Health, Blue Shield and CHCC can create an environment in which hospitals are supported and motivated to dramatically improve quality through focused collaboration,” said Ken Stuart, chairman, CHCC. “We believe that California purchasers and consumers will select higher quality providers when they have meaningful data to help them make their choice.”

Adventist Health, Blue Shield and CHCC will jointly review current hospital performance data to establish measurable quality improvement goals and are exploring ways to financially reward participating hospitals for meeting or exceeding top national quality standards. The three-year pilot will rely on data that hospitals currently collect and report to state and federal agencies.

Hospital quality in California varies widely – different facilities see very different hospital-based infection and complication rates, medical error rates, and rates of adherence to treatment guidelines. Sub-standard quality not only harms patients, but actually inflates the cost of health care by increasing lengths of stay, readmissions and the use of health resources. The Central Valley pilot will initially involve four Adventist hospitals – Central Valley General Hospital and Hanford Community Medical Center, both in Hanford; San Joaquin Community Hospital, based in Bakersfield; and Sonora Regional Medical Center, located in the Sierra Foothills.