 CENTER FOR IMPROVING VALUE IN HEALTH CARE
The newly-formed Center for Improving Value in Health Care – or CIVHC – was created to identify strategies to contain health care costs and to ensure that safe, quality health care services are available to all Coloradans. Dori Biester, the highly regarded, former President and CEO of The Children's Hospital, has been named Interim Director, and is responsible for start-up activities.
"Our purpose is to identify ways to improve quality and contain costs to ensure better health outcomes in Colorado," said Biester. "This is a collaborative effort. With involvement from the public and private sectors across the state, we're in the process of setting our strategic vision to improve the health care delivery system."
For Biester, that means overseeing the Center, writing a business plan, engaging business and community leaders, and working closely with the steering committee.
"We have a broad vision that aligns with the ‘Triple Aim' objectives of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement," she said. These objectives are to:
» Improve the health of the population
» Enhance the patient experience of care (including quality, access and reliability)
» Reduce, or at least control, the per capita cost of care.
According to Biester, "We need to explore what it would take to actualize Triple Aim in Colorado, and we need to build on the efforts of many different groups and organizations that are already doing remarkable things to improve our health system – from health providers and government entities to payors, payees and the business community.
"In a way, everyone is a stakeholder in this initiative. A lot of consumer groups have knowledge and expertise about certain populations of our state – including their socioeconomic status, education and personal behaviors – that we really need to consider."
Biester also emphasized illness prevention as the underlying tenet of Triple Aim. "The focus is on health, not health care," she explained. "While it's necessary to deliver services for acute and chronic illnesses, the broader goal is to keep people healthy – to avoid getting sick in the first place.
"The time is now for Coloradans to bring together all our resources, and design what we want a healthy Colorado to look like."
For more information about CIVHC, contact Laurel Petralia, Program Officer, 303-837-1200, laurel@coloradotrust.org.
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