All Articles

• Action to improve imaging safety earns Birnbaum Award

  This dedication to improving patient safety while maintaining clinical excellence earned a Group Health radiology team the 2013 Birnbaum Award, which honors Group Health staff who work with researchers to improve patient care.
• Young children who miss well-child visits are more likely to be hospitalized

  Young children who missed more than half of recommended well-child visits had up to twice the risk of hospitalization as children who attended most of their visits, according to a study published today in the American Journal of Managed Care. The study included more than 20,000 children enrolled at Group Health Cooperative.
• Beyond gun control: practical tools to prevent suicide

  Whether suicide occurs in a notorious shooting like Newtown, Connecticut, or as a quiet family tragedy, the question is always the same: Was there anything we could have done to prevent this?
• Documentary Escape Fire inspires innovative action at a critical time

  Group Health’s care and coverage work together to achieve healthier outcomes for patients; and how we have become a national leader by staying true to our founders' mission.
• Innovation grant leads to improvements for diagnosing shoulder problems

  The Partnership for Innovation is a Group Health Foundation donor-funded program that allows Group Health providers and staff to test innovations with the potential to improve care, lower costs, and boost patient satisfaction.
• Biennial mammograms best for ages 50–74, even with dense breasts

  Screening for breast cancer every two years appears just as beneficial as yearly mammograms for women age 50–74, with significantly fewer “false positives”—even for women whose breasts were dense or who used hormone therapy for menopause.
• Colon cancer screening doubles with new e-health record use

  Researchers used electronic health records to identify Group Health patients who weren’t screened regularly for cancer of the colon and rectum—and to encourage them to be screened. This centralized, automated approach doubled these patients’ rates of on-time screening—and saved health costs—over two years. The March 5 Annals of Internal Medicine published the randomized controlled trial.