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Community Checkup Report for Puget Sound

For Immediate Release: 11/13/2008
Contact: Puget Sound Health Alliance: (206) 448-2570

The new Community Checkup report for Puget Sound shows you how you can get the best in health care.

Great health care coverage doesn’t guarantee the best health or health care. Even in the Puget Sound region, health care varies across doctors, clinics and hospitals – and large numbers of patients do not get the care recommended by national medical guidelines.

But help is on the way.

The Community Checkup report is a free online resource for you to compare health care provided at medical groups, doctors’ offices and hospitals in the Puget Sound area, to see if the care meets accepted medical standards. Topics covered include preventive care, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and depression, plus surgical care and communication with patients in hospitals and more.

Even in western Washington, home to premiere medical facilities, just a little more than half the health care we get is the care we actually need. Too often, individuals aren’t getting flu shots or cancer screening or other needed care, or they receive care that costs more money but doesn’t improve health, such as using antibiotics for a common cold or too many x-rays. Doctors, hospitals, consumers, employers, health plans and others who are part of the Puget Sound Health Alliance (a non-profit organization that promotes more effective, affordable health care) created the Community Checkup. The purpose is make sure everyone can see what is needed, where we’re getting it right, and areas where we all needed to do our part to improve.

Use the Community Checkup to search, sort and compare health care in 46 medical groups, 170 clinics or 30 hospitals in King, Pierce, Snohomish, Thurston and Kitsap counties. You can search by facility name, by a specific county, or by health topic to find what is most important to you and your family. For each topic, there are tips for what patients, doctors, employers and health plans need to do to help improve the results. Make sure you get the care that keeps you as healthy as possible by using the tools on the website, listed on the “resources” page.

The Community Checkup helps everyone learn about needed care and do their part to improve health and health care. Go to www.wacommunitycheckup.org to get started!