Benchmarking and tracking regional performance on key quality and cost measures is critical to reducing unwarranted variation and achieving high-quality, affordable, patient-centered care for all Californians.

An online tool, the California Regional Health Care Cost & Quality Atlas, tracks performance on six clinical quality measures for the priority health conditions of cancer, diabetes, and asthma; three measures of hospital utilization; and average annual total cost of care per enrollee across 19 California geographic regions.

Developed by the nonprofit Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA), in partnership with the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) and California Health and Human Services (CHHS) Agency, the atlas includes information about care provided in 2013 to nearly two-thirds of the state’s total population, or 24 million people.

Spanning commercial insurance, Medicare Advantage and fee-for-service (FFS), and Medi-Cal managed care and FFS, the atlas for the first time brings together data on clinical quality, hospital utilization, and total cost of care in a meaningful way to assess performance variation in geography and insurance product type.

Along with giving purchasers, providers, payers, policymakers, and the public a clearer picture of overall health and costs across the state, the atlas identifies “hot spots” for performance improvement and establishes a benchmark to track changes over time.

A related issue brief published by IHA, Benchmarking California Health Care Quality and Cost Performance, analyzes atlas data for 14.5 million of the 19.4 million commercially insured Californians enrolled in health maintenance organization (HMO) and preferred provider organization (PPO) products.

In addition, a Sacramento briefing held on July 27, 2016, provided a preview of the atlas, along with a discussion of key findings from the issue brief. The presentation slides are available below.

With continued CHCF support, IHA in 2017 will update the atlas with 2015 data, highlighting changes from the 2013 baseline data. Tracking regional performance on key quality and cost measures through the atlas marks an important step toward reducing unwarranted cost and quality variation and advancing high-value care for all Californians.