2008 Annual Report
Every day I get tough questions.
What's Group Health doing to make health care better? Easier? More affordable? For my employees? My business? My family? Here several Group Health leaders join me in responding to the candid concerns we hear from customers, purchasers, brokers, patients, and peers. There are no easy answers, but the best solutions will come from real and vigorous dialogue. Join the conversation. Help keep us moving in the right direction. More from Scott
What are you doing to stem the rising costs of health care and insurance premiums?
Michael Soman, MD: We're implementing a new way of providing primary care in all 26 of our medical centers. We believe this approach will better serve our patients, bring our costs down, and help reduce premiums — even while improving quality. Read more
OK, Group Health is working to reduce costs. But how is it possible to do that without affecting quality?
James Hereford: It isn't an either/or question. People think they can have high quality or low cost, but not both. That's because many people typically think of health care as episodic, or as individual events rather than an ongoing engagement. Read more
We hear there's lots of costly waste in health care. What is Group Health doing about that?
Michael Soman, MD: We define waste as anything that does not add value in the eyes of the patient. Waste is everywhere. You'll find it in every health care organization. But Group Health is reducing waste in organized, relentless ways — supported by our new management system. Read more
What if my family has a health crisis? How do I know we'll have access to the best physicians?
Brenda Bruns, MD: Our medical group is larger and has more depth than many people realize-with more than 82 specialties and subspecialties. And if you end up with some unusual need or complicated condition that we can't manage directly, we'll connect you to the right physicians, wherever they are. Read more
If Group Health's approach is such a good idea, why hasn't your model been applied more widely?
Brenda Bruns, MD: Group Health is not completely alone in doing what we do. The Commonwealth Fund recently singled out six health care organizations it said were doing precisely the things necessary for health care to remake itself in the 21st century and help reform the country's broken system. Read more Scott Armstrong: Realize that accepting a model where incentives encourage expensive, after-you're-sick, often unnecessary treatment is financially unsustainable. And it's just bad medicine. Read more |
Join the dialogue. 
