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Special Event: Capitol Hill Briefing

Saving Lives, Saving Money: Modernizing Healthcare Through Electronic Prescribing

Wednesday, December 5, 2007, 3:45 PM EST
432 Russell Senate Building
Small Business Committee Room

Newt Notes

November brought several exciting activities for the members of the Center for Health Transformation, three of which are particularly newsworthy.

Early in the month, The Center hosted a member meeting at the beautiful Ritz-Carlton Beach Resort in Naples, Florida. The event was the most inspiring and invigorating to date. I want to thank our CEO, Nancy Desmond, for her leadership in bringing such an informative event to fruition.

By bringing together transformational thinkers across various industries, our members had a unique opportunity to network and discuss innovative solutions that will impact the way we view healthcare in America. We were honored to have as our special guest speakers three experts in areas that are absolutely central to success in the 21st Century: Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup and a member of The Center, spoke about the importance of an engaged workforce. John Timmerman, Vice President of Quality and Program Management at Ritz-Carlton, discussed quality and customer satisfaction. And Mike Morrison, Dean of the University of Toyota, addressed lean thinking. The three of them then joined me in a panel discussion to address how the three models, combined with The Center’s model of transformation (presented in The Art of Transformation; co-authored by Nancy Desmond and me) could transform health and healthcare. The robust conversation concluded with a round of Q&A that was both interesting and educational. For more information on the meeting and upcoming events, please visit our website at www.healthtransformation.net.

November was National Diabetes Month and National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. Both of these tragic and all-too-common diseases are critical issues for The Center. On November 15, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue released a proclamation commending our nationally-recognized Healthy Georgia Diabetes and Obesity Project. The proclamation was presented at a ceremony honoring the achievement of dozens of Georgia organizations whose work on the Project has led to significant strides toward improving the quality of care for those with diabetes and those at risk of developing the disease. The event was held at our member UPS’s Corporate Office in Atlanta.

As part of the Healthy Georgia Diabetes and Obesity Project, the collaboration launched one of the nation's largest pay-for-performance initiatives. The event celebrated the first annual distribution of quality incentives to participating physicians. As a result of the Project, the number of physicians recognized as delivering best standards of diabetes care in Georgia has grown from only 5 to 208. More than 1200 patients with diabetes received care from the physicians who were recognized. To learn more, visit The Center’s Bridges to Excellence page.

In conjunction with former U.S. Senator Bob Kerrey, I co-chair the Alzheimer’s Study Group (ASG) which announced its full taskforce membership list on November 29. We have assembled to develop and advance strategies to overcome Alzheimer’s. ASG members include distinguished national leaders with careers in government, business, medicine and academia. Rob Egge, Project Director for The Center serves as Executive Director.

Dr. Elizabeth Ofili, Senior Advisor for The Center; Newt Gingrich, Founder;  Nancy Desmond, CEO; and Laura Linn, Director of  The Center’s Georgia Project.  Nancy holds a proclamation from Governor Sonny Perdue honoring The Center for its work on diabetes in Georgia.

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Project Spotlight

One of the many ongoing projects at The Center is the renovation and expansion of its website, www.healthtransformation.net, now in its third incarnation. In the past few months alone, the site has undergone a complete redesign, and it now boasts not only a fresh new look, but also more collaborative and transformational features than ever before. Chief among these features is a brand new Health Solutions Lab, which includes both an extensive Multimedia Learning Library (host to more than a dozen videos of innovative workshops), and a page of over 100 Transforming Solutions (you can even submit your own). Similarly, the new, interactive State Solutions map encourages states to showcase their pioneering health policy practices, all for the sake of promoting better health outcomes at lower costs.

Users can also participate in our new site-wide polls, subscribe to our RSS feed for up-to-the-minute Center developments, and browse the overhauled CHT Store. Ever-expanding member-only sections of the site provide our users with exclusive content. In the near future, users will be able to collaborate on project pages and register online for member meetings and Center events. We look forward to growing alongside our user base!

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Transforming Example

deCODE genetics, a global leader in gene discovery, has recently joined the Center for Health Transformation and has begun working with the staff and members to integrate deCODE’s discoveries into the Center’s Health Solutions.

deCODE Diagnostics

deCODE genetics is bringing to market a growing number of DNA tests the company has linked to increased risk of developing common diseases. deCODE believes that such tests provide a novel means to better understand individual risk of developing diseases such as Type 2 diabetes, stroke and heart attack. A better and more personalized understanding of risk may therefore empower individuals and their physicians to implement more rigorous and potentially more effective prevention or treatment strategies. Preventing disease occurrence or simply knowing the predisposition could lead to better patient outcomes and lower overall healthcare costs. Implementation of risk markers like these within the healthcare system may allow for smarter allocation of resources to those with the highest risk of diseases and their complications. They may also empower the individual and his/her physician to take measures that may lead to earlier diagnosis or prevention of a disease altogether.

deCODE T2™ Genetic risk test for diabetes

deCODE T2 is a test for a well-validated genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes—a gene called TCF7L2.

• Detects a genetic variant that can help identify individuals who have two-fold increased risk of Type 2 diabetes compared to test-negative individuals.
  
• Pharmacogenetic evidence suggests that patients with variation in TCF7L2 may not respond well to treatment with sulfonylurea drugs.
  

deCODE AF™ Genetic risk test for atrial fibrillation
deCODE AF is aimed at improving the prevention and treatment of ischemic stroke related to atrial fibrillation (AF).

• Detects two common single-letter gene variants in a gene that is associated with two-fold risk for atrial fibrillation and the strokes related to AF. deCODE AF may help physicians identify patients who may benefit from extended cardiac monitoring. If the monitoring finds asymptomatic AF, the patient may be changed to anticoagulation therapy, which is much more effective in prevention of strokes related to AF than aspirin or Plavix. The corresponding reduction in strokes may significantly decrease healthcare costs.
  

deCODE MI™
The first genetic test to assess risk for early onset heart attacks or myocardial infarction (MI)

• deCODE MI helps to identify common variants on chromosome 9p21 that doubles risk of early onset heart attacks compared to those without the variants. This risk factor is independent of previously known risk factors such as LDL- cholesterol, diabetes, hypertension, obesity, and smoking.
  

deCODE Glaucoma™ Genetic risk test for Glaucoma
Identifies variants in the LOXL1 gene associated with an increased risk of exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) - a common and a difficult to treat subtype of glaucoma that can lead to blindness.

• 25% of the general population is positive for this test and have 2.3 fold increased risk of this severe form of glaucoma compared to the risk in the general population.
  
• Physicians can work with patients who test positive to help minimize their risk of visual loss glaucoma through frequent monitoring of intraocular pressure. They may more aggressively treat patients diagnosed with glaucoma and may recommend more frequent follow up to determine that conventional medications are still effective.
  

New Personalized Genome Scan – Launched November 16, 2007

deCODEme™
After having led in the discovery of genes that confer risk of common diseases for the past decade, deCODE has now launched deCODEme, a service that empowers individuals to explore their own genome.

• Through a subscription to deCODEme at www.decodeme.com, an individual can learn what their DNA says about their ancestry, their body --traits such as hair and eye color-- as well as whether they may have genetic variants that have been associated with higher or lower than average risk of a range of common diseases. This information will be continually updated as new discoveries are made.
  

To Learn More »

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Member Update

The Center for Health Transformation is pleased to recognize AstraZeneca for renewing their membership at the Charter level. Please visit the list of members to keep updated on who is joining The Center.

Mike Morrison, Dean of the University of Toyota, John Timmerman, V.P. of Quality and Productivity for the Ritz-Carlton, Newt Gingrich, and Jim Clifton, CEO of Gallup, participate in the Center for Health Transformation’s Quarterly Meeting in Naples, Florida, November 8, 2007. Photo by: Callista Gingrich

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