Seattle Health Cooperative May Offer National Model

JIM LEHRER:

And next tonight, we continue our coverage of the health care reform debate. NewsHour correspondent Betty Ann Bowser has a Health Unit report on a Seattle medical co-op that's been in the national headlines lately. Our Health Unit is a partnership with the Robert Wood Johnson foundation.

BETTY ANN BOWSER:

Just weeks after being treated for blood clots in his legs, 72 year old Jerry Campbell was out biking in his Seattle neighborhood. He gives much credit for his rapid recovery to his medical provider: Group Health.

One of the reasons Campbell is a big fan of the Seattle-based HMO is because it's a cooperative. Its policies are determined by consumers like Campbell, who subscribe to a Group Health medical plan, either through their employer or on their own. Each policyholder can vote for the board of trustees at an annual meeting. And it is consumers who actually sit on the board.

JERRY CAMPBELL, board member, Group Health: What we do is monitor the policies that are set up, approve the policies that are set up. Here is how Group Health is going to operate. Here is the strategic plan. Here are the expectations. And then we monitor meeting those expectations on a monthly basis. What's the quality look like? Are we doing the things we need to do? How are we doing with our people?

BETTY ANN BOWSER:

Recently, Group Health has gotten a lot of attention in the national health care reform debate, since lawmakers in the other Washington think a patient-governed health insurance company might be politically more viable than a government-run option.

DOCTOR:

We will investigate that more and then we will be able to figure out why you're becoming more anemic.

BETTY ANN BOWSER:

Although there is no specific plan of how such a national co-op would work, the idea is to create an organization where consumers review policies and can hire or fire the CEO. It's a concept that works well at Group Health, according to its CEO, Scott Armstrong.

SCOTT ARMSTRONG, chief executive officer, Group Health: The result is, as you can imagine, there's a kind of accountability that my management team and I feel to our patients, not to shareholders, not to purchasers, but to patients, which does define how Group Health prioritizes its investments.

NURSE:

So, this is for your blood pressure. It's going to give your arm a little hug.

BETTY ANN BOWSER:

Armstrong says it's that kind of consumer influence that actually leads to providing better care and ultimately healthier patients. But not everyone agrees co-ops are the answer. University of Washington public health professor Aaron Katz.