What is YourHealthMatters?
YourHealthMatters is a community-wide effort led by the Health Collaborative to improve the quality of health care in Greater Cincinnati. The purpose of YourHealthMatters is to:
- help people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease understand what they and their health care providers can do to ensure quality health care
- provide information about how physician practices and their patients are doing in meeting goals that define quality care for diabetes and cardiovascular disease
- provide information about how well patients and their doctors are in doing in getting patients screened for colon cancer
- provide information about patients’ experiences with their physicians
The goals for diabetes and cardiovascular disease are based on recommendations from medical professional associations and government groups that define quality health care, along with physician leaders in our community. The colon cancer screening rates of patients (ages 50-75) in primary care practices will be collected and reported in the future. The patient survey scores will be based on the results of a community-wide survey of patients in Greater Cincinnati.
Diabetes and cardiovascular quality of care are the first of many health issues YourHealthMatters plans to cover. Future plans include expanding to cover quality of care for other health conditions, quality of hospital care, and the cost of care provided by different health care providers.
How was YourHealthMatters developed?
The inspiration for this site came from patients just like you. Extensive research, interviews, and feedback from patients led to conversations about the quality of care in the Greater Cincinnati area, and what could be done to improve it. As you explore the site, know that each section has been carefully structured based on the goals, opinions, and aspirations of patients in the area.
Also unique to the development of YourHealthMatters is the joint effort of bringing together diverse community groups (consumers, physicians, nonprofit community organizations, certified diabetes educators, hospitals, employers, and health plan providers) who are all concerned about quality health care. These groups were all given the opportunity to express their ideas and hopes, and those great ideas were all taken into consideration in building this website.
Do other cities have similar programs on health care quality?
The answer is: not many. Cincinnati is on the leading edge of measuring health care quality and publishing this information publicly. The Health Collaborative has taken a novel approach in combining both patient and community group feedback to develop this site. Greater Cincinnati is one of only 17 areas in the country receiving funds from the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to support this work. Cincinnati benefits from the proven experience of other communities who are also measuring and reporting on health care quality.
