Group Health Medical Centers
Earns Top Ratings in 2011 'Community Checkup'

Group Health leads with the most top ratings for quality care measures in the 2011 Puget Sound Health Alliance Community Checkup.

Now in its fifth year, the Community Checkup reports on performance related to 19 quality measures including asthma, diabetes, depression, prevention of certain diseases, and the use of antibiotics and generic medications.

Of the 19 measures, Group Health ranked above regional average in 12 and at regional average on seven; there were no ratings below regional average. Eighty medical groups and more than 300 clinics in Western Washington were reviewed from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010.

"Group Health's patient-centered approach has been the foundational basis for continuous improvements in clinical performance for the past several years," said Dr. Michael Soman, president and chief medical executive of Group Health Physicians. "We always remember that we need to keep getting better, yet it is very gratifying to once again show this excellent performance in the Puget Sound Health Alliance rankings."

The Puget Sound Health Alliance is an independent, regional partnership of employers, physicians, hospitals, patients, and health plans working together to improve health care across the region. It makes performance information available to the public to allow people to make informed judgments about their health care.

"The Community Checkup supports the change that we seek to make," said Mary McWilliams, executive director of the Alliance. "By working in our focus areas, the Alliance believes that it can achieve its strategic vision — by 2015, physicians, other providers, and hospitals in the region will be in the top 10 percent in performance nationally in the delivery of quality, evidence-based care and in the reduction of unwarranted variation, resulting in a significant reduction in medical cost trends."

Data in the Community Checkup was supplied by 18 different organizations, including health plans, employers and labor trusts. The report was made possible by the participation of the medical groups, data suppliers and members of the Alliance board and committees who guide the process of producing the report; and by important funding and technical support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative.