First few Article Sentences
In July 2009, I had the honor to represent The Everett Clinic in Washington D.C. at a symposium sponsored by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement titled “How Do They Do That? Low-Cost, High-Quality Health Care in America.” Dave Brooks, CEO of Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, and Rich Maturi, Senior Vice President of Healthcare Delivery Services at Premera Blue Cross, joined me at the conference to represent Everett, which was selected as one of 10 communities across the country identified as providing relatively low cost and high quality care. To be successful, healthcare reform must deliver on the value equation for our patients (Value = quality/cost) by improving quality and decreasing the trends in cost of care. In the previous two editions of Washington Healthcare News, Messrs. Brooks and Maturi mentioned the importance of having a culture of collaboration in order to achieve this goal, on the one hand between the hospital and the providers and on the other hand between the payers and the providers.