BALTIMORE- Maryland’s health care plans should do more to prevent illnesses and complications from common ailments, according to a report released Thursday by the Maryland Health Care Commission.
“The opportunities for preventative health care are still frequently missed,” said Stephen J. Salamon, chairman of the commission. “We miss an opportunity when we spend a disproportionate amount of money on treating disease and not on prevention care and health promotion.”
The annual report details the performance of health maintenance organizations and point-of-service health plans that serve Maryland residents. It gave examples of areas where preventive health care could be improved for a number of diseases.
According to the report, 59 percent of Maryland smokers receiving health care services from health maintenance organizations do not report receiving adequate help in quitting.
“This is the single-most (preventable) health problem and it’s not being addressed,” Salamon said.
The number of women receiving annual mammograms to detect breast cancer has declined 3 percent since 2003.
In 2005, fewer than one in five health maintenance organization members reported receiving adequate care and treatment after being diagnosed with depression.
And 31 percent of diabetes patients reported high cholesterol levels, while less than half of the high-risk diabetes patients had optimum cholesterol levels. The report also showed that as children grow older, they are less likely to receive preventive care.
Out of the six health care plans measured by the report, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States received the highest marks in many preventive care areas, including immunizations for children, diabetes care and long-term monitoring for patients taking antidepressants. Among the other findings, Aetna, BlueChoice and OCI received below-average scores for breast cancer screenings, while OCI received the lowest score for checking for kidney disease among diabetes patients. M.D. IPA had the highest percentage of members who were seen by a physician frequently after being diagnosed with depression.
Improved access to information relevant to individual patients could help improve the quality of care Marylanders receive from providers across the state, said Rex W. Cowdry, the commission’s executive director. He advocated the use of statewide electronic medical records in health centers, saying it will reduce costs and improve health care quality and access by creating a more individualized approach for each patient.
“We have a glut of information growing exponentially that is supposed to be implemented into everyday practice,” he said. “Yet there’s nowhere to get information specific and relevant for each person.”
Kaiser implemented an electronic record system in its Baltimore-area health centers in February and plans to have the system up and running throughout its Mid-Atlantic region next month.
“We think it will improve our ability to get upstream sooner and prevent these illnesses earlier,” said Marilyn Kawamura, president of Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States. The report, which has been released for the past nine years, does not necessarily have an impact on which organization Marylanders choose to oversee their health care, largely because employers make that decision for them, said leaders of the health care commission. But they stressed that making the data public provides a greater incentive for low-performing health care organizations to improve.