Ever wonder why the U.S. spends double the amount on health care that any other country in the world does --- and yet, still, we as a nation do not enjoy the best health care? On this edition of ST, a discussion of efforts to improve American health care quality --- with an emphasis on where and how such quality-seeking efforts are occurring in Oklahoma. Our guest is Peggy O'Kane, President of the non-profit National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA); she's in town to participate in the MyHealth Health Care Quality Summit, which happens today (Friday the 27th) at the Tulsa Convention Center (at 3rd and Houston). This summit will also draw attention to the Beacon Community Cooperative Agreement Program, a health care initiative that's happening in select locations all over the country --- including the Greater Tulsa area --- and that basically aims to employ health-related Information Technology as well as the efficient use of electronic medical records to offer patient-centered treatments boasting better health, better care, and lower costs for patients. (You can learn more about the Beacon Program's presence in our community here, and there's more about today's MyHealth Health Care Quality Summit here. And Peggy O'Kane's professional bio can be seen here.) Also on today's show, a reflective, story-telling-driven, and wide-ranging commentary from Connie Cronley: "The Lost Boys."
In Search of Quality Assurance for America's --- and Oklahoma's --- Health Care Industry
