News, videos, photos and experts
Co-Authors Drs. James Ralston and Matthew Handley explain their evaluation of Group Health’s use of health information technology, as reported in the April issue of Health Affairs.
They found that biennial surveys of randomly selected patients have helped inform improvements at Group Health, where three in 10 primary-care visits happen online. For more on the evaluation: http://ghcnews.org/?p=957
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Over the weekend we heard great news that Don Berwick has been nominated to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS).
Berwick has ties to Group Health. In 2006, Berwick was the speaker at the Group Health Annual Meeting, our guest at the Gift of Health Gala, and received our Foundation’s 2006 Innovators in Health Care award.
For more on Don Berwick and Group Health’s stance on his nomination, check out Group Health’s new blog: “In Our View” http://ghcview.org.
In Our View shares updates and insights into the health reform legislation and transforming health care in our communities. It is supported by Group Health Public Affairs division staff and includes content contribution from nationally recognized leaders and experts, including Group Health President and CEO Scott Armstrong, Group Health Physician President and Chief Medical Officer Michael Soman, MD; Group Health Research Institute Executive Director Eric Larson, MD.
Group Health staff, other health plan leaders, health care providers, public officials and children’s health advocates stand with the Governor as she signs the new law
Governor Christine Gregoire signed a law Tuesday, March 23 establishing the Washington Vaccine Association, a new non-profit organization, ensuring children throughout out Washington State continue to receive lifesaving vaccines.
In 2009, the Washington Legislature eliminated the universal childhood vaccine purchase program by phasing out the state-funded purchase of vaccines for children with private health insurance. This new entity will ensure that there is uninterrupted access to affordable vaccines for children across the state. (more…)
Message from Scott Armstrong, Group Health President & CEO, and Michael Soman, President and Chief Medical Executive, Group Health PhysiciansPassage of major health care reform legislation in the House on Sunday is a momentous, positive step to expand coverage to more Americans.
There are, of course, many details still to be determined, and the impact of a variety of specific measures is still unclear. But the bill will expand coverage—via Medicaid and subsidized premiums for individual and family plans—to bring health care to more than 32 million people nationally, and almost 500,000 people here in Washington state. (more…)
Group Health Annual Meeting 2009
Are you a Group Health member? Interested in helping transform health care for Group Health Cooperative’s members and the communities it serves? Then apply for one of the four open positions on the Group Health Board of Trustees.
Elections are slated for Oct. 2010. The application deadline is Wed., April 14, 2010.
The Board of Trustees is an 11-member consumer governing body that hires the CEO and sets the strategy and direction for a $2.8 billion non-profit health care system that serves more than 639,000 members. Individuals with the experience and range of skills necessary to help lead our consumer-governed health care system are encouraged to apply. (more…)
A new Group Health Research Institute randomized trial shows that on average, three months after receiving a series of 10 massage sessions, patients had half the symptoms of anxiety. This improvement resembles that previously reported with psychotherapy, medications, or both. But the trial, published in the journal Depression and Anxiety, also found massage to be no more effective than simple relaxation in a room alone with soft, soothing music.
Karen J. Sherman, PhD, MPH Group Health Research Institute
“We were surprised to find that the benefits of massage were no greater than those of the same number of sessions of ‘thermotherapy’ or listening to relaxing music,” said Karen J. Sherman, PhD, MPH, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. “This suggests that the benefits of massage may be due to a generalized relaxation response.” (more…)
Drs. Lindsay and Dan MacDougall volunteering in Haiti
The Group Health husband-and-wife team of Drs. Lindsay and Dan MacDougall are medical relief veterans with approximately 14 tours under their belt, returned last weekend from three weeks stationed just outside Port-au-Prince.
Dr. Dan MacDougall, who became involved in medical-relief missions after the 1986 Mexico City earthquake, asked me to share the following account and photos of their experience:
Dr. Lindsay MacDougall
“The areas of P-a-P (Port-au-Prince) and the surrounding towns and villages were destroyed to a degree that even the pictures we have seen on TV gave little justice to. The collapsed buildings, the piles of rubble and trash, and the aimless crowds of victims who had lost just about everything they had, including family, was almost overwhelming. Many people lived in 4×6 plastic wrapped shelters or just under bed sheets.
Our primary job there with Medical Teams International was to (more…)
Dr. Mary Wierusz in the Dominican Republic with a Hatian patient who needed a skin graft.
What is it like to be on the ground, as a physician, helping as best as possible in such conditions? Reports from two physicians—one a new doc at Northgate and the other a retired Group Health physician—tell the story. View more of Dr. Wierusz photos here: Images from Dominican Republic
“We cared for refugees who came to the Dominican Republic from Haiti, most with orthopedic problems—crush injuries, need for amputations, wound infections—but some tropical diseases such as malaria, too,” said Mary Wierusz, MD, a family physician at Northgate Medical Center, recently returned from 12 days in the Dominican Republic. “As a volunteer with Children of the Nations, I was one of five physicians on a medical team of three surgeons, and another family physician.” (more…)
Dr. Elizabeth Lin MD, MPH, Group Health Research Institute
Depression raises the risks of advanced and severe complications from type 2 diabetes, according to a prospective study of nearly 4,000 Group Health primary-care patients.
These complications include kidney failure or blindness, the result of small-vessel damage, as well as problems of major blood vessels leading to heart attack or stroke.
The February 2010 Diabetes Care, a scientific journal of the American Diabetes Association, published these findings. Scientists from Group Health Research Institute, the University of Washington (UW) Schools of Medicine and of Public Health, and the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System conducted the study.
“Systematic care for both depression and diabetes, as well as regular follow-up with patients’ primary care team, are essential to help control their depression and diabetes well,” said lead author Elizabeth Lin, MD, MPH, a Group Health family physician and GHRI affiliate investigator. “When patients with diabetes also have depression, they have significantly higher risks of developing complications such as amputation, vision loss, kidney failure, heart attacks, and strokes—and even of dying five to 10 years earlier.”
