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Individuals are invited to check out the Aligning Forces for Quality Web site to see how well providers and patients are doing in several categories.
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Aligning Forces for Quality launches community checkup
Local patients with diabetes now have another tool to help them become a better partner with their physician and a more informed health care consumer.
The tool is a community checkup which is now available at the Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) Web site. To visit the Web site, Click here.
The community checkup shows the results of more than 50 local health care providers from Family First Health, Hanover Hospital, Memorial Hospital, WellSpan Health and many independent physicians who have voluntarily chosen to participate.
These providers submitted information about their patients with diabetes in four key areas: average blood sugar (hemoglobin A1C), blood pressure, LDL cholesterol and body mass index (BMI).
“We want patients with diabetes and area physicians to use this site as a resource,” said Karen Jones, M.D., physician champion for Aligning Forces for Quality.
“We hope it will encourage patients to work together with their physician to receive the appropriate care.”
Individuals are invited to check out the Web site to see how well providers and patients are doing in several indicators: checking and controlling hemoglobin A1C, checking blood pressure, checking and controlling LDL levels and checking body mass index.
“These criteria have been identified as important to monitor regularly to help keep diabetes under control,” said Christine Amy, project director for Aligning Forces for Quality for South Central Pennsylvania.
“I encourage everyone to take a look at the Web site to learn more about why it is extremely important that patients with diabetes have a close relationship with their doctor’s office and receive recommended tests on a regular basis.”
Currently, no other community organization in Pennsylvania has publicly reported primary care level performance data gathered by physicians directly from patients’ records. AF4Q in South Central Pennsylvania is paving the way for other communities throughout the state.
“We are proud to be the first in Pennsylvania to publicly report this type of health care quality data,” said Amy.
“This is a step in the right direction towards transparency in health care. It helps patients and physicians to improve.”
The initiative is starting with diabetes data and will include quality information for heart disease by early 2010. The current diabetes data will be updated in June 2010.
