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News Release
North Carolina Businesses Commit to National Initiative for Improving Quality And Value In Health CareNorth Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance Recognized as a Community Leader In a meeting today in Charlotte with HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, executives from area businesses signed statements of support for a national initiative aimed at improving health care quality, information and cost-effectiveness for employees and their families. The North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA) was recognized as the community leader for the initiative. Altogether, more than 2.6 million people will benefit by implementation of this initiative in North Carolina. Employers signing on from North Carolina include Aetna – NC; AT&T – NC; Bank of America; Belk; Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina; Bridges to Excellence; Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence; Cigna; Cisco – NC; EDS – NC; FirstHealth of the Carolinas; GlaxoSmithKline Research & Development; Goodrich; IBM – NC; Lowe’s; NCHICA; Novant Health; Wachovia; and the North Carolina State Employee Health Plan. Executives at the event pledged to provide quality and price information about doctors, hospitals and other medical providers for all enrollees in their health care insurance programs. This information will help employees choose health care providers based on the quality of care they deliver and the prices they charge. In addition, the employers will support health information technology by encouraging the use of recognized interoperability standards in the health IT products used by their health plans. They also pledged to develop incentives for achieving better value in health care, including incentives for high quality care and for more active involvement by employees in choosing their health care services. President Bush committed federal health programs to the four cornerstones through an Executive Order last August. In November, Secretary Leavitt invited all employers, in both the private and public sectors, to take these same four steps. By committing to these goals, Secretary Leavitt said, “Our individual actions will be aligned toward reaching the common national goal of better health at lower costs for all Americans. Today, purchasers in North Carolina are joining with the federal government in adopting the four cornerstones of value-driven health care.” “I am proud that leading North Carolina employers are choosing to support these four cornerstones to achieve better health care and better value for employees and their families,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Until now, it has not been possible for patients to learn in advance about the quality of care they can expect to receive from a provider, or the cost of the services they will incur. By making this information available, employers can help their employees get better care and better value in health care. “With the commitment that North Carolina employers like these are now making, I expect many changes in health care,” Secretary Leavitt said. “Patients will come to expect quality and performance information about health care providers. They will expect to have price or cost information in advance to make good value decisions about their care. They will use this information to improve health care value for themselves and their families. And the choices they make will help improve value and health care quality across the health care sector.” Secretary Leavitt also recognized the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance as a Community Leader, a designation bestowed to organizations who agree to support the cornerstones at the local and regional level. Recognition of the group represents a step in building a national network of regional organizations that bring together local stakeholders to improve health care while holding costs down. More information on Value-Driven Health Care is available at www.hhs.gov/transparency. For a full list of companies who have signed statements of support, including those signing in North Carolina today, visit: http://www.hhs.gov/transparency/employers/statements.html.
### Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. Last revised: March 15, 2007 |
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