WhyNotTheBest.org gives health care professionals and researchers a tool to benchmark health care performance and find resources to guide their improvement efforts. Created by The Commonwealth Fund, the free Web site brings together performance data from multiple sources to track the delivery of recommended care, readmission and mortality rates, incidence of bloodstream infections, patient safety and quality, use of health information technology, and more.
Users can build reports comparing individual hospitals or hospital groups to others like them, such as safety nets, academic medical centers, or rural hospitals. With the site’s interactive map, they can also explore regional variation and track delivery system reforms, like the emergence of accountable care organizations.
During this webinar, on November 16, at 11 am E.T., we saw a demonstration of WhyNotTheBest.org and heard stories from the field from those using the tool in their work.
Watch a recording of the webinar.
Presenters:
- Joy Gill, clinical data analyst, Adventist Healthcare
- Justine Carr, M.D., chief medical officer and senior vice president of quality and safety, Steward Health Care System
- Kim Paull, director of analytics, Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner
- Kevin Quinn, vice president, payment method development, Xerox State Healthcare
The Commonwealth Fund's Anne-Marie Audet, M.D., M.Sc., and Martha Hostetter demonstrated the tool and moderated the event.
Joy Gill is the clinical data analyst for Adventist Healthcare. She has clinical operations and IT experience through both executive leadership and consulting roles with acute, post-acute and behavioral health care providers throughout the country. Specializing in large-scale IT projects, process improvement and start-up operations, Joy has served as Chief Knowledge Officer for a national post-acute care network, Chief Operating Officer for a new acquisition of a multi-site, medical model retail pharmacy chain, project manager for a multi-site behavioral health system implementation, and as Acting Executive Director for a prominent long term care community. Joy spent several years sharing her talents in operations, change management and board development with the non-profit community, working with agencies in the greater-DC area that were experiencing founder transition. More recently she returned to the acute care setting in the area of quality and patient safety, where she is presently serving as Clinical Data Analyst, System Quality for Adventist HealthCare, Inc. in Rockville, Maryland. Joy received her BS with a Major in Nursing from The Johns Hopkins University.
Justine M. Carr, M,D., is Chief Medical Officer and Senior Vice President of Quality and Safety at Steward Health Care System. Steward is a clinically integrated network based in Boston with 10 hospitals and more than 2,000 physicians. It is the second largest physician network in New England, serving over 1,200,000 patients annually. Steward is one of the 32 programs designated by CMS as a Pioneer Accountable Care Organization. At Steward Dr. Carr has led multiple initiatives in clinical integration, including standardization of policies and best practices in clinical excellence and prevention of harm. Dr. Carr is chair of the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics, an 18 member committee advisory to the Secretary of Health and Human Services on health data strategy. Dr. Carr has been an invited participant in national and state initiatives related to health care quality and safety and also data stewardship, including Agency for Health Research and Quality (AHRQ); Institute of Medicine Digital Learning Collaborative; SEIU Partnership for Quality Care; Massachusetts E-health Initiative. Dr. Carr is an internist and hematologist and formerly held assistant professor positions in Medicine, Surgery and Pathology at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Carr received her medical degree at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and trained at Presbyterian Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Kim Paull, Director of Analytics at the Rhode Island Office of the Health Insurance Commissioner (OHIC), develops and coordinates quantitative approaches to improving the state's health care system. In particular, Kim has led analyses and workteams on insurer rate reviews, primary care investments, risk adjustment and reinsurance programs, quality improvement, and administrative simplification. Prior to her work at OHIC, Kim was an actuarial analyst with Hartford Life and led policy analysis at the Massachusetts Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, focusing on hospital market dynamics, payment reform legislation, and the development of a Medicaid-based accountable care organization. Kim graduated from Smith College and is an MPH candidate at the Tufts School of Medicine.
Kevin Quinn, Vice President of Payment Method Development at Xerox, advises Medicaid programs and other state agencies on provider payment methods, with an emphasis on value purchasing and incentivizing hospital quality. Kevin’s analyses of Medicaid payment topics have been published by Health Affairs, Inquiry, the Journal of Ambulatory Care Management, the Health Care Financing Review, and the Center for Health Care Strategies. Other health care policy analyses have been published by the Commonwealth Fund, the Congressional Budget Office and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Helena, MT, where he also works as a paramedic for St. Peter’s Hospital.
