Tuesday Quality Forum to focus on transparency—WHIO, the Capitol, the patient and the health care professional

The Wisconsin Medical Society (Society) is kicking off its 2009 slate of Quality Forum meetings Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 9 a.m. This is a very important Forum due to the number of national and state initiatives focused on transparency and the impact they may have on the patient-physician relationship. This Forum is open to all interested Society members. Registration will be limited to 40 participants in person with a call-in number available for those off-site. Key agenda items include:

Transparency Dialog at the Capitol
Tim Bartholow, MD, the Society’s Senior Vice President of Member Services, Policy Planning and Physician Professional Development will update Forum attendees on recent conversations Society staff has had with our state’s political leaders on this subject.  “Legislators are interested in doing something effective on transparency, while looking to the marketplace for the right kind of solutions,” said Dr Bartholow.

Transparency from a Patients Perspective
Jane Cooper is CEO of Patient Care, a national advocacy organization that assists patients in navigating the health care system. “The growing transparency of cost and quality information is going to impact all constituents in 2009,” said Cooper. Patient Care provides cost and quality information for tests, surgeries and other health care services. She will describe current and emerging trends on cost and quality information requests her organization has fielded from health care consumers.

Transparency through the WHIO Initiative
Over the past six months, the Society has posted regular articles in Medigram on WHIO’s development. Now, WHIO’s Datamart is live with more than 1.6 million unique members (patient lives) and is in the middle of its first quarter study period. WHIO Executive Director Julie Bartels will provide a status report on the project and an update on study period findings to date. Forum attendees will also review the performance report being field-tested with physicians during the study period.

Tuesday’s Quality Forum also will feature an update on the World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist and an introduction to the soon-to-be launched electronic version of the Wisconsin Medical Journal. The Forum will be followed by a risk management session titled, “Disclosure and apology."