Healthcare Value and Outcomes

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality  – Important federal policy site, with a wide variety of information on research projects and medical practice initiatives.

Catalyst  – New site hosted by the New England Journal of Medicine, intended as an idea marketplace for enhancing the value of health care delivery.

Center for Value-Based Insurance Design  – Hosted by the University of Michigan, a good introduction to concepts of structuring insurance and financial benefits to produce high-value health care.

The Commonwealth Fund  – Private foundation site focusing on better health care with better access and improved efficiency.  An excellent data site for statistics and graphics to understand both the US and international health care systems.

Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement  – A non-profit collaborative representing stakeholders from multiple perspectives, dedicated to understanding and promoting best practices to achieve best possible outcomes.  ICSI includes a number of comprehensive, evidence-based guidelines that address common health conditions, including low back pain and chronic pain.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement  – Originator of the Triple Aim, an organization with broad strategies for improved care delivery across all sectors, lots of links and resources.

International Consortium for Healthcare Outcomes Measurement  – One of the key principles in understanding healthcare value is the need to measure important healthcare outcomes effectively and accurately.

Center for Clinical Effectiveness, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association – Comprehensive evaluations of new technologies and treatments, with up-to-date literature reviews and policy recommendations.

Value-Based Healthcare Delivery – Developed by Michael Porter at the Harvard Business School’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness

Sites Focusing on Specific Conditions/Specialties

American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons – Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines  – The official AAOS guidelines for orthopedic care, with fairly comprehensive literature reviews.

Boston Shoulder Institute  – A medical practice website, but one that contains much information on quality shoulder care, including much information for patients.

Spine Care and Outcomes Assessment Program  – An innovative approach to looking at new spine care technologies by comprehensively tracking patient outcomes.  Part of a larger effort in Washington to track quality and outcomes in healthcare.

World Spine Care  – Global charity to improve access to evidence-based spine care for medically under-served communities.

Workers Compensation Resources

Workers Compensation Research Institute  – Comprehensive, data-driven assessments of how regulatory and public policy decisions impact outcomes to the workers compensation systems of different states.

California Workers Compensation Institute  – Public policy monitoring organization restricted to California, but scope and quality of the research makes most of the studies relevant and instructive for other state systems.

National Council on Compensation Insurance  – Gathers information on industry trends, and provides information to many state systems to set rates and establish other payment policies.

National Academy of Social Insurance  – Conducts research and provides policy briefs on a variety of insurance issues, including workers compensation and disability.

American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine  – The official specialty society for occupational medicine, and author of the official specialty society guidelines.

News and Blogs

Managed Care Matters  – Joe Paduda’s blog on managed care, covering health care policy, breaking news, and well, just about everything, actually.

STAT News – a new health and medicine site sponsored by Boston Globe Media.