Report points out ways health care can improve

By Keri Brenner | The Olympian • Published February 01, 2008

Up to one-fifth of patients in the Puget Sound area who need regular cholesterol screenings for diabetes or heart disease are falling through the cracks, a new report says.

"Some of us are not getting the care we need," said Dr. David Fleming, chairman of the board of the private, nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance, which produced the study.

The Community Checkup report, which was released Thursday, did not include analysis of patient care at any major hospitals, such as Olympia's Providence St. Peter Hospital and Capital Medical Center. It covered care to 1.6 million people seen at 14 large clinics — including the Group Health Cooperative in Olympia — in Thurston, King, Pierce, Snohomish and Kitsap counties. In addition, patient data from 14 health insurance plans and self-insured unions and employers were analyzed.

The report was designed to identify gaps in the region's health care system and to suggest where improvements need to be made, said Steve Hill, administrator for Washington State Health Care Authority.

"Tools like this create a common set of quality benchmarks for large health care purchasers like the state of Washington and Boeing," Hill said. "This has a ripple effect as our contracting providers follow these criteria, and then adopt them as a way of doing business."

Patients' names were removed from the study.

Thurston County results

In Thurston County, about 35 percent of the care in the data surveyed was above average, the report says. That meant that people got regular notices when they were supposed to get tests taken, and that they frequently were screened for certain conditions, such as high cholesterol or depression.

"I'm bad at following up," said Group Health patient Joanne Travis of Yelm, who was getting treated Thursday for diabetes at the Olympia clinic. "But whenever I come in here, they run all kinds of tests — check my feet, my kidneys, my blood sugar."

Travis, a Group Health patient for 20 years, said the clinic's use of electronic medical records also helps her get alternate physician services if her regular doctor is unavailable.

"Where I used to go, at a private practice, if the doctor wasn't there, it was, 'Oh well,' " she said.

The report also gave points to clinics where prescriptions were filled using generic drugs whenever possible, and to those where children were not given unnecessary antibiotics.

In general, higher marks were given for wellness and prevention efforts that focused on the entire patient, not just the symptom or the isolated office visit, said Dr. Matt Handley, associate medical director for quality and informatics at Group Health.

"The publication of the Community Checkup gives gentle pressure for providers who are not doing as well to find that out and to make improvements," Handley said.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said the report was "exactly the kind of information that patients and their doctors should have to make informed health care choices and drive a higher- quality, more-affordable health care system."

Keri Brenner covers Thurston County for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5435 or kbrenner@theolympian.com.