Adherence to standards of care by health maintenance organizations in Israel and the USA

Bruce Rosen, Avi Porath, L. Gregory Pawlson, Mark R. Chassin, Jochanan Benbassat

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: The health-care systems in the USA and Israel differ in organization, financing and expenditure levels. However, managed care organizations play an important role in both countries, and a comparison of the performance of their community-based health plans could inform policymakers about ways to improve the quality of care. Objectives: To compare the adherence to standards of care in Israel and in the USA. Study design: An observational study comparing trends in performance using data from reports of the National Quality Measures Program in Israel and of the National Committee for Quality Assurance in the USA. Results: Differences in specifications preclude a comparison between most measures in the two reports. However, the comparison of 11 similar measures in the 2007 reports indicates that performance was higher in the USA by 10 or more percentage points on four measures (flu immunization, medication for asthma, screening for colorectal cancer and monitoring for diabetic nephropathy). Performance was higher in Israel on three measures in patients with diabetes (blood pressure, lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and glycemic control), and similar on the remaining four measures. Between 2005 and 2007, quality of care improved in both countries. However, improvement was slower in the USA than in Israel. Conclusions: In comparison with the USA, Israel achieves comparable health maintenance organization (HMO) quality on several primary care indicators and more rapid quality improvement, despite its substantially lower level of expenditure. Considering the differences between the two countries in settings and populations, further research is needed to assess the causes, generalizability and policy implications of these findings.

Original languageEnglish
Article numbermzq065
Pages (from-to)15-25
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal for Quality in Health Care
Volume23
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Feb 2011

Keywords

  • Measurement of quality
  • Primary care/general practice
  • Quality improvement
  • Quality indicators
  • Quality management
  • Quality measurement
  • Setting of care

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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