Health Care In New Jersey Ranked Among The Nation's Worst.

Business Editors

TRENTON, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 14, 2003

Latest Study Ranks the State #43, Worse Than Its Ranking in 2000,

Costs Continue to Rise

New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute Launches Campaign -- Goal

of Improving Health Care Delivery Ranking by 2005

The quality of New Jersey's health care delivery system continues to rank among the worst in the nation, according to the latest Jencks Study, published in today's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

Judged against 52 districts (the 50 states, Washington D.C., and Puerto Rico), New Jersey has slipped from #41 to #43 since the last Jencks report in 2000, and last among our neighboring states. Yet, our state's health care costs remain among the highest in the nation.

The Jencks Study tabulates rankings based on care delivered to fee-for-service (non-HMO) Medicare patients. It measures how often patients are given care judged to be best-practices (e.g. aspirin/beta-blocker drugs for heart attack patients, vision/foot exams for diabetics) and then compares that to the care provided in other states.

"Despite the significant advantages of an affluent, well educated population, New Jersey's health care delivery system is broken," said David Knowlton, Chairman of the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute. "Nationwide, more than 98,000 citizens die from preventable medical errors every year. Here in New Jersey we lose 11 of our neighbors each day to preventable medical errors. Overall quality is poor, information needed to make informed decisions is limited and in some cases restricted, and the cost of health care in the state is increasing at double-digit levels with no end in sight. Dr. Jencks' study 2 years ago was a call for action. Here we are, more than two years later, and New Jersey's performance is worse. Clearly, the current system needs to be fixed, and fixed now! -- New Jersey cannot accept less."

NJHCQI plans an aggressive education campaign to build consumer and health care purchaser awareness of the variables in the Jencks' Study. "We all need to take charge of our own care if we are to change the level of care provided in our state, " Knowlton said. The Institute's goal is to improve the quality of the state's health care and bring New Jersey's ranking up in time for the next Jencks Study in 2005. NJHCQI will seek to work with the state's corporate leaders (significant health care purchasers), health care providers and policy makers to enhance state residents' quality of life.

NJHCQI also announced that it will convene a Summit on Health Care Quality with the following goals:

1. Reduction of medical errors achieved through purchaser and

consumer collaboration and with financial and non-financial

incentives for those providers that endorse and implement

current standards of The LEAPFROG Program.

2. Improvement of New Jersey's ranking among the 50 states on the

Jencks measures to a ranking of not more than 20th by the end

of 2004 accomplished by collaborative efforts among physicians,

nurses, health facilities, senior groups, purchasing

coalitions, health plans and government.

3. Implementation of web access to information called for in

Senate Bill 571 along with a variety of additional health care

quality information which is accurate, helpful, and user

friendly

4. Get the story out -- to leaders in every stakeholder

organization in the state. They need to know the size, scope,

depth and insidious nature of the problem and, more

importantly, the direct relationship between quality and cost.

"The consumer and purchaser empowerment initiatives that we urge will significantly improve the quality of care delivered while also helping to reduce the overall cost of delivering that care," said Knowlton. "New Jersey is an innovator in high-tech, pharmaceuticals and other industries. There is no reason why we should not have the best health care in the country. Getting all stakeholders to find our current state of health care quality unacceptable will form a solid basis upon which we can work to improve our ranking."

Founded in 1997, the New Jersey Health Care Quality Institute (NJHCQI) is a foundation affiliated with the Health Care Payers Coalition of New Jersey. NJHCQI seeks to educate consumers, through objective research and comparative data on providers, to allow them to make informed decisions on the merits of various health care programs, treatments and services. The organization seeks to accomplish several objectives, including:

 -- Empower health care payers and consumers  -- Enhance the accountability of health care delivery systems and services  -- Establish a clearinghouse of information on the Internet 

Additional information on NJHCQI, the Jencks study and The LEAPFROG Project can be found by visiting: www.hcpc.org