Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Delaware's health advisory group discuss data metrics for health outcomes

Delaware Public Media

Gov. John Carney’s handpicked health care advisory group is working to both improve Delaware’s health and slow down the growing cost of care. But there’s some debate over how to best use data to represent the health of the state’s whole population.

Carney’s February executive order requires the advisory group to target no less than two and no more than five health categories for improvement. Suggestions for priorities at Monday’s meeting included opioid overdoses, obesity and infant mortality, but some on the board argue the available data in these categories can misrepresent the health of the concerned populations, and is not enough to measure the health of a state.

Sharon Anderson is the Senior Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety at Christiana Care Health System. She says data based on insurance claims fails to represent people who do not access care.

“They may have (really) hypertension for a lot of years, and the first time they may get into a hospital is because they are in renal failure. That population I worry about the most, and that’s not measured by health plans and claims,” said Anderson.

Anderson says this is a state public health issue, and points to the role of public safety as well as a shortage of primary care physicians.

But state officials say there is room to cut costs and improve health in Delaware using the data that’s available. Delaware Secretary of Health and Social Services Dr. Kara Odom Walker says once the categories are selected, the state will use the best available data and set benchmarks.

“This effort around the benchmark is not about penalizing anyone. It’s not about a cap. It’s not about limit in terms of what we’re doing for quality or cost. It’s about increasing the transparency and the dialogue around where we have opportunities to improve,” said Walker.

Walker points to opportunities for improvement highlighted in data from the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The NCQA's Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, or HEDIS, ranks Delaware below the 25th percentile in several health categories.

Additionally, health care takes up almost one third of the state’s budget and is growing faster than its economy, but Delaware ranks 30th in overall health.

The executive order calls for a spending benchmark to be implemented starting next year. The advisory group has more meetings scheduled over the next two months.

Related Content