Statement re: the Passage of the Health Care Reform Bill

Joel T. Allison, President and CEO, Baylor Health Care System

It will take some time to carefully review all aspects of the bill signed into law today in order to analyze exactly how it will affect Americans and specifically, Baylor Health Care System and its patients.  It is one thing to pass legislation.  It is another to write the rules and regulations to implement it.

Baylor’s focus on quality initiatives over the past decade, has prepared the organization for the greater emphasis health care reform has placed on quality care. We have dedicated $20 million in this year alone to quality initiatives and a total of $272 million to what we call Clinical Transformation including the implementation of the electronic health record. Baylor’s quality initiatives and impressive outcomes made it the first health care organization in Texas to ever win the National Quality Healthcare Award from the National Quality Forum. It also helped the organization recently rank fourth on a list of the top 98 hospital systems in the country, based on quality and patient satisfaction scores.

Baylor broke ground last year on the Diabetes Health and Wellness Institute at the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center which is set to open in South Dallas this summer. The Institute, a Center of Excellence focused on prevention of diabetes, is being watched closely by other organizations nationwide and is being touted as a new possible model for the care of this chronic disease.  Again, Baylor is poised to lead in this new health care environment in which an increased focus is being placed on prevention and wellness and the creation a “medical home model” as we strive to achieve our vision to be trusted as the best place to give and receive safe, quality, compassionate care.