This article first appeared in the June/July 2008 issue of the newsletter "States in Action."

The Louisiana Health Care Quality Forum, based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is a private, nonprofit organization formed as part of the post-Katrina effort to rebuild the health care system in hurricane-affected areas of the state. The forum focuses on short-term recovery and long-term system redesign. A 13-person volunteer board sets priorities for evidence-based, collaborative initiatives to improve the health of the people of Louisiana. The recognition that things need to be done differently than in the past has provided additional impetus for stakeholders to come together, and the Forum has enjoyed broad provider participation and support. Current Forum priorities include measuring quality, adopting patient-centered medical homes, leveraging health information technology, and improving consumer access to health information.

The Quality Forum acts on its priorities through four committees. The Louisiana Department of Health is involved in all of the committees, working in partnership to align stakeholders in the effort to redesign the health care system as they rebuild. Recent accomplishments include:

• submitting an application to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for a demonstration project to enhance Medicare reimbursement rates for physicians who adopt electronic health records;
• adopting the Joint Principles of the Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) policy statement and hosting a summit to provide hands-on training and resources for providers to build medical homes;
• utilizing a pre-Katrina, multi-payer database that houses data on 60 percent of the population to examine health system performance for various subpopulations, and updating and expanding this database; and
• developing health literacy campaigns to begin in the spring of 2009.

In addition, the Forum is one of two Chartered Value Exchanges selected by HHS to pilot sustainability tools. Through this pilot, HHS will provide technical support to the Forum as it to helps define practical strategies for building stability and financing for the multi-stakeholder collaboratives. The results of Louisiana's experience will be shared with the entire Learning Network.