Health delivery indicators project

James W. Walton, DO, Medical Director, Office for Community Health, HealthTexas Provider Network, 8080 N. Central Expressway, Suite 1700, Dallas, TX 75206, 972-860-8626, jameswa@BaylorHealth.edu, Nora Gimpel, MD, Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center Dallas, 6263 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9067, and Mark J. DeHaven, PhD, Department of Family Practice and Community Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, 6263 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX 75390-9067.

Project Access (PA) is a physician-led, community effort to increase healthcare access for low-income, working but uninsured Dallas county residents. The Dallas County Medical Society in partnership with hospitals, business, faith and community organizations provides program management. Grants and donations fund the program. PA seeks to coordinate existing health clinics, a volunteer primary and specialty-care physician network, local hospitals and pharmacies, and faith-based organizations.

The PA Health Delivery Indicators Project (HeDeI) is a health care decision-making and quality analysis tool. HEDeI was developed to assist PA leadership in overseeing the quality of patient care, understanding facility performance, identifying opportunities for program improvement, and monitoring individual and program outcomes, community access to care, utilization, and costs. The HeDeI tool examines the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of PA by assessing: - Structure: organization and financing of the program and the population served, - Processes: utilization of medical care services and procedures, and - Outcomes: health status and clinical outcomes indicators and return on investment.

A pilot study (April 2002 to April 2003) was conducted to develop the structure and processes of the HeDeI project using data collected and centralized within the PA management team. By April 2003, a comparative database was developed as a collaborative project between the PA management and research partners collecting and analyzing monthly data from multiple sources. The HeDeI report with graphs was placed on the PA’s web-based and is monthly updated to be used by program managers, researchers, and others at the Federal, State and local levels.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to

1. Describe and discuss the development and utilization of a health decision and quality control tool and its contribution to a community-based program.
2. Recognize the importance of a collaborative process to measure and monitor the effectiveness of a program.
3. Identify areas to be analyzed and reported in assessing the performance of a community-based program.

Keywords: Community-Based Health Promotion, Community Health Programs

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

Medicaid and Managed Care: Reaching and Serving Those In Need

The 132nd Annual Meeting (November 6-10, 2004) of APHA