Overview
The western region of New York State encompassing Buffalo and surrounding counties ranks in the top quartile among 306 U.S. regions evaluated by The Commonwealth Fund’s Scorecard on Local Health System Performance, 2012, performing especially well on measures of access, prevention, and treatment. Its relatively strong performance may reflect the collective impact of partnerships of local nonprofit health plans and physicians to improve quality; the development of a regional health information exchange that enables the sharing of clinical and administrative health care data among hospitals, physicians, and insurers; and the cooperation of community foundations and nonprofit organizations in conceiving a strategic vision for addressing unmet health care needs. An exemplar of the region’s approach is the P2 Collaborative of Western New York, a “coalition of coalitions” that convenes community stakeholders to advance population health programs and efforts to transform clinical practice.