Health Co-op Offers Model for Overhaul

[groovedaddy]

SEATTLE — As Dr. Harry J. Shriver III examined 70-year-old Eleanor L. Riley one recent morning, he seemed in no hurry. He asked about her phlebitis and her gall bladder, and whether her gout was acting up. They discussed her blood pressure readings and whether she was getting any exercise.

“I surprise my patients by asking, ‘Is there anything else you want to talk about today?’ ” said Dr. Shriver, chief of a clinic near Seattle run by Group Health Cooperative of Puget Sound. “They’ve never heard a doctor say that.”

Dr. Shriver has the time because Group Health, one of the country’s few surviving health insurance cooperatives, has recently embraced electronic medical records and a collaborative model of primary care, allowing him to practice proactive medicine for the first time in years.

On Capitol Hill, those innovations have made Group Health a prototype for a political compromise that could unclog health care negotiations in the Senate and lead to a bipartisan deal. After a month of brainstorming, including briefings from Group Health executives, the Senate Finance Committee seems poised to propose private-sector insurance cooperatives — instead of a new government health plan — as its primary mechanism for stoking competition and slowing the growth of medical costs.

But state officials say Group Health’s impact on holding down costs has been mixed. And its successes may have less to do with its governance — by a board that is elected by patients — than with its ownership of a vast network of clinics and specialty care centers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/health/policy/07coop.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

[redqueen]

1. "Group Health’s impact on holding down costs has been mixed"

Wow, really?!

:banghead:

The stupidity in this country is truly astounding.

[Sebastian Doyle]

2. The common nickname for that entity around here is "Group Death"

There's a reason for that.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

3. My doctor regularly spends at least 30 mintes with established patients

and usually two hours with new ones. She practices compassionate listening, and really tunes into the patient's wants and needs. We're not a cooperative, we're a non-profit, and the insurance companies often drive us nuts because they either won't pay or make it extremely difficult to collect fees. That means we have less money to spend to help those with no insurance.