HCFO Releases a New Findings Brief

Effectively restructuring the delivery system may help to curb rising health care costs while improving access to and quality of care. David Grembowski, Ph.D. professor of health services at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine, and colleagues examined the effectiveness of the Group Health Cooperative’s (GHC) Access Initiative. The GHC Access Initiative included a set of system reforms that sought to change GHC from a more traditional health maintenance organization model to a patient-centered model through initiatives such as a patient Web site, same-day scheduling, and changes to physician compensation. Through patient and provider surveys, qualitative interviews, internal data warehouses, and reporting databases, the researchers examined the impact of these initiatives on patient and physician satisfaction, physician productivity, costs, and quality of care. Findings from this study may inform how changes to the delivery system impact access, quality, and costs.


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