A hat tip to GordoM I found this first at his site. AGAIN. Lol
-----link to Muskegon Pundit-----
http://blog.mlive.com/chronicle/2008/06/foundation_grant_to_help_erase.html
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This looked to me as if it was a great thing. The emphasis on what I will call a more business like model. The emphasis on measuring actual outcomes so the patients (you and me) might be able to go online and see the fatality rates for quadruple by-pass and how much it costs at the various hospitals. This not only helps the patient make informed decisions, but allows those in charge to have a metric to better base their decisions on. I give this a two “bottom up” salute.
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(A “bottom up” salute is something I give to a concept thought or deed I come across that will enhance governing from the bottom up, not from the top down as we have now.“)
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This looks like a step in the right direction. This fits into my ideas of transparency in government, allowing citizens to see what is happening and allowing them to make better informed decisions thus driving change in favor of the citizen not the system.

The link below is where I get the quotes found after the link.
-----link-----
http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/af4q/focusareas/index.jsp
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Look near the bottom for a bunch of highlighted links. That is where the quotes next come from.
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Overview
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) is working with targeted communities and national organizations to help patients and consumers better understand, demand and choose quality health care. This principle—that care needs to improve in ways that truly matter to patients and consumers—has become a central part of all of RWJF's work to address quality
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-----quote-----
Overview
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) recognizes that there is wide variation in the quality of health care available to Americans, and that this variation in care has significant costs in lives and dollars. To bridge the gap between the care people receive and the care our health system is capable of providing, the Foundation is working to increase public awareness of the performance of health care providers. Under the Quality/Equality portfolio, many RWJF grantees are working to measure and report physicians' performance to help doctors improve the care they deliver and to help consumers and patients make informed choices
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Another aspect I like is the emphasis on doing the work. Not just studying it but putting resources immediately to work and see what happens and judge from that.
-----quote from same source-----
Overview
A number of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation programs and research efforts have focused on improving the care provided to patients in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Establishing safer and more effective care will require better teamwork, communication and coordination among those who give care, get care and pay for care. The communities that are involved in the Aligning Forces for Quality Initiative are bringing together these stakeholders to turn promising practices into real results and improve the overall quality of U.S. health care.
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-----quote-----
Overview
In outpatient and inpatient settings, nurses are central to the quality of care delivered to patients. To capitalize on this profound impact, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and others have sponsored initiatives to engage nurses to become active leaders and participants in improving health care. RWJF created such a program in partnership with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in Boston and the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE), called Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB). The program worked intensively with 10 hospitals to pioneer nurse-led innovations in hospital medical surgical units, and is now sharing lessons learned and results with other hospitals across the country. The Foundation will continue to emphasize the importance of engaging nurses to lead quality improvement initiatives in all of our Quality/Equality investments.
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The beauty of this is the lack of government money. While government has spent billions upon the problem and many good results have arisen. There usually is no “driving force” to collect the success’s and integrate them into the whole. It is instructive that a private organization is leading the charge. This is a good start. We need to see the problem, and the reporting and compilation of results will help define the problems. The publishing of those results for the public to easily see will help the patients drive change in procedure based on outcome.

Newt’s ideas on it in a short video clip/
-----link-----
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bo2PkgsmiE
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I especially like the ideas I’ve been blogging about here as to hands on things such as good inner city stores, physical education. This is stuff anyone can help out in, check your local church or other churches, call up organizations like Little league or whatever you can think of. There is a need for volunteers, the work sometimes is finding one that fits you and your time frame. It doesn’t have to be with government help. Start a softball team, Take one morning a week to set up any thing with kids, one day a month to help sell hotdogs at the concession of game. Set up a concession at the game. It doesn’t have to be physical. The mental health of the community is equally important. If the idea is good the bottom up thing might happen. It may get funding. I’m beginning to notice that there is money out there looking for a worthy place, that the dispensers of that money like to see real faces vs. the local money seeking non profits ect. In suits. With all their charts and graphs. For example Jill Montgomery seemed to be such a dispenser. She didn’t mind putting the charts and graphs together that were necessary to get the funding for some of our needs. That’s her job.

That video clip by Newt had lots of good thoughts in a short space. If you want more, go to you tube, in the search box type in (gingrich health care).

Regards, Live Dangerously Be A Conservative