WhyNotTheBest.org gives health care professionals a tool to benchmark health care performance over time and against other hospitals and regions. 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, health care costs, and more.
During this September 24 webinar, participants saw a demonstration of WhyNotTheBest.org and heard stories from the field from those using the tool in their work.
Speakers: William R. Scharf, M.D., physician change agent, OSF HealthCare; James Donohue, senior manager, ECG Management Consultants; and David G. Schulke, vice president of research, Health Research and Educational Trust, American Hospital Association.
The Commonwealth Fund's Anne-Marie Audet, M.D., M.Sc., and Martha Hostetter demonstrated the tool and moderated the event.
View the archived webinar at http://cc.readytalk.com/play?id=c6sxi4.
James Donohue is a Senior Manager with ECG Management Consultants and works in the firm’s Boston Contracting and Reimbursement practice. With nearly 20 years of experience in the health care industry, he has been assisting provider organizations with issues related to payer reimbursement and revenue realization, as well as evaluating and executing strategies to project and improve upon their financial performance. Prior to rejoining ECG in 2008, Mr. Donohue served as an independent consultant with clients that included Partners HealthCare System, Inc.; UMass Memorial Medical Group; Neighborhood Health Plan; and others. Mr. Donohue holds a master of business administration degree, with a concentration in healthcare management, from the Boston University Graduate School of Management and a bachelor of arts degree from Boston University.
William R. Scharf, M.D., is a Physician Change Agent in the division of Strategic Effectiveness with OSF HealthCare Systems. He graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University and received a medical degree from the University of lllinois in Chicago. Dr. Scharf received postdoctoral training in general surgery from the University of Illinois Hospital, Cook County Hospital, and the West Side Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Chicago. He completed residency studies in general surgery at the Ohio State University in general surgery. Dr. Scharf was a staff surgeon with the OSF Medical Group at the OSF St. James – John W. Albrecht Medical Center in Pontiac, Illinois until November 2007. In 2007, he transitioned to the Corporate Office of OSF Healthcare Systems where he works in the Division of Strategic Effectiveness as a Physician Change Agent.
David Schulke serves as Vice President for Research Programs at the Health Research and Educational Trust, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association. HRET is the not-for-profit research and educational affiliate of the American Hospital Association (AHA). At HRET, David is responsible for helping providers translate research into effective approaches to reduce costs and improve health care quality. He serves as project director for a 25-state project to support patient safety learning networks focusing on readmissions and improving the patient experience of care. He is a senior member of the project team for the AHA/HRET Hospital Engagement Network (HEN), which is working with state hospital associations to assist hospitals in reducing hospital-acquired conditions and preventable readmissions in 31 States. Before coming to HRET, David served for 11 years as Executive Vice President for the American Health Quality Association, the national association of the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs).
