Innovative Approach to Combat Rising Healthcare Costs

HealthMETRICS Partners, Inc. article in AJMC Documents the Variation in the Delivery of Medical Services That Wastes Over 20 Cents of Every Dollar Spent

Lexington, Massachusetts (May 26, 2010) — HealthMetrics Partners today announced the publication of a ground-breaking article assessing medical cost and quality, which are pivotal to the national healthcare debate, in the May issue of the American Journal of Managed Care. The article documents that variation in the delivery of clinical services leads to wide variations in costs that are not correlated with improved quality of care.

According to lead author, Charles Moore, President and CEO of HealthMETRICS, “This article demonstrates that by examining a few key measurements that are fundamental to healthcare delivery, costs may be reduced, nationally, by over 20% while providing excellent quality of care. The healthcare debate has focused on issues of universal health insurance coverage, preventive care, fraud and abuse, and tort reform, but an issue just as important is the extensive waste that is incorporated into the delivery system.”

The article uses a common, very high volume service as an example of the application of this strategy. Family planning services are used by 17 million women per year in publicly funded clinics. The unit cost for the most common family planning visit varied from $42 to $206. Controlling for service variables and adjusting for regional economic difference, cost variation was found to be almost entirely attributable to the different processes used to provide care. There was no correlation between the cost and quality of care, indicating that excellent care can be achieved at lower cost.

Moore concludes “Currently healthcare managers lack information about their processes of healthcare delivery—especially what components of the process are critical to excellent outcomes and what components just add to costs. HealthMETRICS has repeatedly identified similar opportunities for cost savings in a wide variety of medical services.”

Florida Public Health Institute and HealthMETRICS Partners, Inc. Form Partnership

Florida Public Health Institute and HealthMETRICS Join Forces to Enhance the Quality, Efficiency and Effectiveness of Public Healthcare Services across Florida Lake Worth, Florida

(March 3, 2010) – The Florida Public Health Institute (FPHI), under the Executive leadership of Dr. Earl Fox, formerly of HRSA in Washington, D.C., has entered into a partnership with HealthMETRICS Partners from Massachusetts to provide Public Health managers with the information they need to maximize the effectiveness and efficiency of the medical services they offer.

Highlands County Health Department under the direction of Robert Palussek is the first county to participate in this new initiative. According to Mr. Palussek “This partnership will allow us to focus upon performance optimization within our direct services. I am convinced it will give us a better understanding of our clinical operations, which will help us to make better decisions, and enable us to provide excellent care to more patients with our limited funding.”

Per Fox, the FPHI has teamed up with HealthMETRICS Partners from Massachusetts to provide their services to Public Health managers “because of their excellent track record in improving costs and healthcare outcomes.” He further added that “the role of FPHI will be to develop education and training programs to support these projects, identify local experts and use the data to identify ways to improve state regulations and policies that govern the delivery of medical services”

Mr. Michael Napier, the Administrator of Seminole County Health Department and President elect of the Florida Association of County Health Officers stated that: “As steward of the Public Health System that utilizes taxpayer’s dollars we have an obligation to adopt best practices to achieve outcome optimization in the care we provide. Like every business public or private we are always looking for ways to lower costs and simultaneously improve the quality of service. Our goal of improving our community’s health will be a step closer in Florida with the FPHI/HealthMETRICS partnership.”