Contact: Lauren
Lempert
510-208-1740 (office)
llempert@iha.org
Top Performing Physician Groups in
California Honored by
Integrated Healthcare Association
Groups from Eight Regions
Recognized for Top Performance in
Clinical Quality, Patient Satisfaction, and Use of Information Technology
OAKLAND, Calif.,
Oct. 5, 2006 – California’s
top performing physician groups were identified today by the Integrated
Healthcare Association (IHA) and recognized for high performance on important
health care quality measures, including preventive care and chronic care
management, patient satisfaction, and use of information technology to support
patient management and care.
Of 228 physician groups participating in IHA’s Pay for Performance
(P4P) program, those that scored in the top 20 percent overall were selected for
the honor, and included 46 top performers in eight regions, comprising 17
northern and 29 southern California groups.
The top-rated groups by region (listed in alphabetical order) are:
·
Bay Area:
o
Affinity Medical Group
o
Brown & Toland Medical Group
o
Camino Medical Group
o
Hill Physicians Medical Group – East Bay
o
John Muir Physician Network
o
Mills-Peninsula Medical Group
o
Palo Alto Medical Foundation (Palo Alto Division)
o
Santa Clara County IPA (SCCIPA)
o
The Permanente Medical Group – East Bay
o
The Permanente Medical Group – North Bay
o
The Permanente Medical Group – Peninsula
·
Central Coast
o
Buenaventura Medical Group
o
Sansum Clinic
·
Central Valley
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Kern County
o
The Permanente Medical Group – Central Valley
·
Inland Empire
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Fontana
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Riverside
·
Los Angeles
o
Cedars-Sinai Health Associates IPA (unit of Cedars-Sinai Medical
Care Foundation)
o
Cedars-Sinai Medical Group (unit of Cedars-Sinai Medical Care
Foundation)
o
Facey Medical Foundation
o
HealthCare Partners Medical Group
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Baldwin Park
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Bellflower
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Los Angeles
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Panorama
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – South Bay/Harbor
City
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – West Los Angeles
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Woodland Hills
o
UCLA Medical Group
·
Orange
o
Bristol Park Medical Group, Inc.
o
Edinger Medical Group
o
Greater Newport Physicians
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – Orange County
o
Pioneer Medical Group
o
St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group (Yorba Park)
o
St. Jude Heritage Medical Group
·
Sacramento/North
o
Hill Physicians Medical Group – Solano
o
Mercy Medical Group/CHW Medical Foundation
o
Sutter Medical Group
o
Sutter West Medical Group
o
The Permanente Medical Group – North Valley
·
San Diego
o
Southern California Permanente Medical Group – San Diego
o
Scripps Clinic Medical Group
o
Sharp Community Medical Group IPA
o
Sharp Mission Park Medical Group
o
Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
IHA’s P4P program is the
largest physician incentive program in the United States.
The goal of the program is to enable physician groups to receive
financial rewards from participating health plans based on quality measures for
clinical care, patient experience, and use of information technology.
“Quality measured against evidence-based guidelines is the
cornerstone of effective healthcare,” said Wells Shoemaker, MD, and Medical
Director of the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG).
“I applaud these top performers who have raised the bar for other
physician groups in California.”
Today’s announcement is based on an analysis of the 2005 P4P
measurement year, in which 228 physician groups participated, with The
Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente’s Northern California physician
groups) and Southern California Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser
Permanente’s Southern California physician groups) reporting results for the
first time. With the addition of Kaiser, data from approximately 40,000
physicians who care for more than 12 million individuals were tallied to
calculate which physician groups made the top 20% cut.
Seven major health plans (Aetna Healthcare of California, Blue Cross of
California, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA HealthCare of California, Health
Net of California, PacifiCare of California, and Western Health Advantage)
participate in rewarding participating physicians with P4P incentive payments.
In July, IHA announced across-the-board improvements by physician groups
on P4P evidence-based clinical care measures, as well as increased use of
information technology for activities such as prescribing, monitoring lab
results, preventive and chronic care reminders, and electronic messaging.
Compared to 2004, physician groups reported that in 2005 they screened
about 60,000 more women for cervical cancer, tested nearly 12,000 more
individuals for diabetes, and administered approximately 30,000 more childhood
immunizations.
“This means that across
California, children are more likely to get the immunizations they need, adults
are more likely to get screened for cancers and diabetes, and chronic conditions
are more likely to be managed. The
patients are the real winners,” said Tom Williams, executive director of IHA.
“These physician groups have distinguished themselves by providing care
for their patients at the highest levels compared to their peers on comparable
benchmarks.”
Names of the top
performing groups will be posted on IHA’s website at www.iha.org.
Due to some methodology changes and timing
issues, the winners will be posted on the IHA site this year, rather than on the
Office of the Patient Advocate website, http://www.opa.ca.gov.
OPA will provide a link to the IHA website to ensure that consumers will
have easy access to the information.
The Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) is a not-for-profit statewide
collaborative leadership group of California health plans, physician groups, and
health care systems, plus academic, consumer, purchaser, pharmaceutical and
technology representatives that promotes quality improvement, accountability,
and affordability for the benefit of all California consumers through special
projects, policy innovation, and education. www.iha.org
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