May 2017 -- Last month, Onpoint traveled to Louisville, Kentucky, to participate in a “HealthDoers Peer-to-Peer” event organized by the Network for Regional Healthcare Improvement (NRHI). The conference, which brought together NRHI’s “Getting to Affordability” (G2A) technical experts with a diverse group of data analysts, vendors, researchers, and educators alike, sought to further develop NRHI’s Data Quality Assessment and Improvement program in support of efforts to standardize and produce Total Cost of Care (TCOC) reporting using the HealthPartners’ measurement framework at the practice, community, and national levels.

The NRHI G2A initiative strives to advance payment reform by leading a multi-region effort focused on the production, sharing, and use of information about the total cost of care. With funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the initiative works with participating regional health improvement collaboratives across the country to standardize how those programs report cost information. The end goal: Balancing local customization with alignment to national efforts to make information consistent, relevant, and actionable. (Learn more about the NRHI G2A initiative’s total cost of care project and its comparison reporting, learning modules, case studies, and future efforts by visiting the program’s site here.)

Onpoint, which supports the Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation’s participation in the NRHI G2A initiative, joined the HealthDoers Peer-to-Peer event to learn more about the project’s methods used in assessing the quality of the claims-data inputs (which yield the TCOC measurement outputs) and to identify opportunities for improvement in data completeness and validity.

The event offered an opportunity to connect with colleagues and clients from around the country to explore some of the latest developments and visions of the NRHI G2A initiative. A big thanks to all involved for welcoming Onpoint to the G2A community. We look forward to the important work ahead!