By Janelle Walker
Intermountain Health Care is No. 1 in the nation when it comes to improving medical programs and keeping health care costs down, according to Verispan, a Chicago-based research firm.
For the second year in a row, IHC ranked first out of the nation''s top 100 health networks.
IHC was created when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints set up a board of trustees to take ownership of its hospitals in 1975. That board now consists of 22 Utah business leaders, doctors and professors.
'We''re always looking for new programs and ways that we can be more effective in providing health care,' said Daron Cowley, IHC spokesperson. 'We have wonderful, effective physicians who have implemented programs that have helped improve patient care far beyond what the national average would be.'
IHC has lower health costs because their doctors and hospitals are so unified, Cowley said.
'The bottom line is you want to give the best quality of care you can,' said Cowley. 'What we find is that if you are getting that kind of quality, you are also saving money because there are fewer complications.'
For example, IHC implemented a program to lower baby inductions before 39 weeks.
If the baby is induced before then, there are higher costs due to more babies being placed in intensive care units, said Cowley.
IHC also gives higher pay incentives to doctors who meet certain measurements and standards of quality.
Huge variations among doctors in medical procedures often lead to poor care and rising costs, according to the National Academy of Science''s Institute of Medicine.
IHC has a staff of 1,900 affiliated physicians, clinics, health maintenance organization and 20 hospitals in Utah and another in Burley, Idaho.
'IHC does very well on performance reports because they do the hard work to collect data and they have high overall patient satisfaction,' said Barry Nangle, director of the Utah Department of Health center for health data.
According to the Utah Department of Health, IHC controls half of the health-care market for the state.
Verispan''s annual results are based on eight success factors: outpatient utilization, integrated technology, hospital utilization, financial stability, services and access, contract capabilities, physicians and integration.