Foundation for Healthy Communities
PRESS RELEASE

October 4, 2000 

Contact: Carolyn Edy, Communications Director
(603) 225-0900

New Hampshire Ranks #1 in Recent Study on Quality of Care

(CONCORD) – New Hampshire ranks #1 in the nation on quality of care for seniors, according to a study just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

The study – conducted by the Health Care Financing Administration – uses 1997 and 1998 data to look at how Medicare beneficiaries are treated for six conditions: acute myocardial infarction (AMI), congestive heart failure, community acquired pneumonia, stroke, diabetes mellitus and breast cancer. It then ranks states by their adherence to 24 separate quality indicators associated with these conditions, e.g. how soon after admission was an AMI patient given aspirin, did a diabetes patient receive appropriate blood sugar tests, were selected immunizations recommended for pneumonia patients?

“We’re very pleased that New Hampshire fared so well in this evaluation,” says Mike Hill, president of the New Hampshire Hospital Association and Foundation for Healthy Communities. “We feel good about what we do, but we know there is always room for improvement. So we will continue to work together to maintain the high level of care patients deserve and to improve performance wherever we can.”

Robert Aurilio, C.E.O. of Northeast Health Care Quality Foundation, agrees. “This is great news for New Hampshire, but we still have work to do,” Aurilio says. “Fortunately New Hampshire already has a track record for collaboration among the key partners in the state – hospitals, physicians, health care organizations, and payers – to achieve excellence. We’re looking to see 100 percent in every category, and the Foundation for Healthy Communities is well positioned to work with us to get there.”

The Northeast Health Care Quality Foundation is the federally-designated Quality Improvement Organization/Peer Review Organization for Medicare covering New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont. It is responsible for the quality of care delivered to the approximately 175,000 Medicare beneficiaries in New Hampshire.

The study appears in the October 4 issue of JAMA.

The Foundation for Healthy Communities is a nonprofit corporation that exists to improve health and healthcare through the creation of partnerships with health providers and other organizations in northern New England. Among its partnerships are: the New Hampshire Cardiac Care Collaborative, the Medication Bridge Project, Healthy Mom/Healthy Baby, New Hampshire Cardiac Care Collaborative, and the NH Partnership for End-of-Life Care.