PHA Overview

The Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA) is a collaborative effort that includes working with the Georgia Health Care Organizations, the Department of Community Health, Agency for Health Research and Quality, Georgia Division of Public Health, Georgia Medical Care Foundation, Medical Association of Georgia, Georgia Health Policy Center, Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, other organizations and programs that enhance the health care of Georgia.

PURPOSE
The Partnership for Health and Accountability (PHA), formed in January 2000 brings together the healthcare field with agencies and individuals to ensure quality, safety, and achieve healthy communities. The program assists in strengthening and intensifying collaboration between providers, community members, and other stakeholders by providing education, and tools to facilitate a data-driven focus for improvement.

VISION
"Stakeholders collaboratively use data to proactively improve quality, patient safety and health, and effectively communicate results across the publics served."

GOALS
PHA's goals are based upon the concept that only by working together with others can we achieve the vision of healthy communities, and include:
1. Strengthen ties and intensify collaborative efforts.
2. Advocate and assist in providing leadership for the ongoing improvement in the safety and delivery of health services.
3. Provide a forum to discuss and advocate for data-driven public policy that would promote the use of clinical best practice guidelines where appropriate and provide improved health, coordinated care and expand health care coverage and access to these health care services.

PHA also seeks to avoid duplicative efforts by identifying and expanding provider knowledge, participation, and support of similar programs. PHA is designed to benefit communities and individuals, as well as to support policy makers at the state and local level in making informed, data-driven decisions to improve health.

IMPLEMENTATION
Four major components are used to support achievement of goals: community involvement, data, reports and continuous improvement framework.

Reports on indicators to measure health and hospital performance will be used to target opportunities for improvement and monitor progress. Too often reports are constructed in a "one size fits all" mode, which results in "data for the sake of data." However, in PHA the collaborating organizations will work together to design reports targeted to meet the overlapping and differing needs of target audiences: individuals, providers, policy and decision-makers, including payers, etc. Using a "best performer" approach for providers will encourage the adoption of best practice patterns. Additionally, by presenting information in a way that increases patients' knowledge, we expect to increase their ability to manage their own health and appropriately use services.

Public Reports: The Board of the GHA: An Association of Hospitals and Health Systems approved the publication of population based public reports. The first level reports, The State of the Health of Georgia, was published in December 2000. A second report highlighting hospital specific top performers is scheduled for release in late 2001.

Patient Safety: To improve patient safety and reduce medical errors, the Accountability & Health Safety Committee of PHA has developed a peer review protected system and neutral forum for the voluntary reporting, studying, and learning from errors including "near misses." This inclusive effort will include analysis of outcome, process, medication use, patient safety issues, medical error, and sentinel event data.

More information on PHA:

PHA Committees - Click here to view PHA's various health and safety related committees.

PHA Orientation Slides

For more information regarding PHA please email us at: pha@gha.org