Greater Boston group takes on healthcare challenge

Greater Boston will join 15 other regions in the country working with a national foundation to re-engineer how healthcare is provided, received, and paid for, a local coalition said today.

Thirty-eight Massachusetts organizations, including hospitals, universities, insurers, and healthcare advocates, will use a six-month, $200,000 grant to plan how it will become part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Aligning Forces for Quality initiative. Cochairs of the coalition are Barbra Rabson, executive director of the Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, and Stuart Altman, professor of national health policy at Brandeis University's Heller School for Social Policy and chair of the Eastern Massachusetts Heathcare Initiative.

The coalition's task is to draw a roadmap for improving healthcare in Greater Boston in four areas: helping physicians deliver better care, encouraging patients to partner with their doctors, improving care in hospitals with an emphasis on the role of nurses, and narrowing gaps in care based on race or ethnicity, the group said.

The program is part of a $300 million effort sponsored by the foundation's initiative to improve healthcare nationally by focusing locally.

These are the organizations involved in the Aligning Forces for Quality initiative:

Atrius Health/Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Boston Medical Center
Boston Medical Center HealthNet Plan
Boston Public Health Commission
Cambridge Health Alliance
Children's Hospital Boston
Eastern Massachusetts Healthcare Initiative (EMHI)
Employers’ Action Coalition on Healthcare (EACH)
Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
Harvard University
Health Care for All
Institute for Nursing Healthcare Leadership Inc.
Lahey Clinic
Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors
Massachusetts Consortium for Children with Special Healthcare Needs
Massachusetts eHealth Collaborative
Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary
Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services
Massachusetts Health Quality Partners
MHQP Physician Council
Massachusetts Health Data Consortium
Massachusetts Hospital Association
Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers
Massachusetts Medical Society
Massachusetts Organization of Nurse Executives
Masspro
Mount Auburn Hospital
Neighborhood Health Plan
Network Health
Partners Healthcare
Partnership for Healthcare Excellence
Tufts Health Plan
Tufts Medical Center
Tufts University
Winchester Hospital