French system and Intermountain working together to improve and to fix healthcare spending

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, February 2, 2016 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Utah-based Intermountain Healthcare hosted a delegation of leading French health officials this past week.

The relationship is part of collaboration between the French health system and Intermountain Healthcare’s Institute for Healthcare Leadership. The focus is to study best practices in France, create a version of Intermountain’s Advanced Training Program overseas, and to engage in joint learning opportunities.

“These collaborations provide an extraordinarily valuable opportunity for improvement. We will bring different areas of expertise and demonstrated excellence, then merge our measured experience,” said Brent James, Intermountain’s Chief Quality Officer, in the Deseret News in July 2015.

The group consisted of health officials for the French government, as well as reporters from Le Point magazine.

• Christian Foury - Official Representative of the International Research of the Mission for European and International Relations and Cooperation of the French National Health Insurance Fund.
• Annie Fourard - Medical Advisor of the French National Health Insurance Fund and Head of the Hospitalization Department.
• Jerome Vincent, MD – Internist and journalist for Le Point.
• François Malye – Health economist reporter for Le Point.

The delegation spent the week touring Intermountain hospitals throughout the state, as well as visiting the innovations at the Intermountain Transformation Lab and Supply Chain Center.

“We are here to learn, to learn what we have done at this stage, to compare what we have in order to adapt all the inventions we would like to in France,” said Christian Foury. “I know very well that you are a good healthcare system, considered highly in the world. You are good at quality and at lower costs and that is why we are very interested.”

The officials also have focused heavily on Intermountain’s recent launch of a new medical records system. France currently does not have electronic health records. But that will soon change as their first versions will be implemented in June 2016.

The innovations and technology at Intermountain is another large part that the French delegation observed. They are hoping to applying similar technology changes in France.

France and the United States have numerous similarities and also differences. The country only has one single healthcare system while the United States has many options. They have singled out Intermountain due to a variety of reasons. Both entities are focused on population health, improving quality care, and reducing health care costs.

France and Intermountain will continue to work together as the French healthcare systems looks to continue to improve and to fix healthcare spending.

“We have to fight the waste in order to improve the quality and to reduce costs,” Foury said. “Those are the things we have to learn from this organization.”

Intermountain Healthcare is a Utah-based, not-for-profit system of 22 hospitals, 185 clinics, a Medical Group with some 1,300 employed physicians, a health plans division called SelectHealth, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare through high quality and sustainable costs. For more information about Intermountain, visit intermountainhealthcare.org, read our blogs at intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs, connect with us on Twitter at twitter.com/intermountain and on Facebook at facebook.com/intermountain.

Daron Cowley
Intermountain Healthcare
801-442-2834
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