California Medical Group Survey Evaluates Capabilities of Coordinated Care Systems to Deliver both Quality and Affordabili

Survey Can Serve as a National Roadmap for Healthcare Reform and Accountable Care Organizations

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG) released the results of its fourth annual Standards of Excellence (SOE) survey of its medical group members. The SOE survey is the first known voluntary large scale, critical self-assessment for medical groups in the United States.

“CAPG is proud of the outstanding performance of our member physician groups,” said CAPG’s President and CEO Donald Crane. “These organizations have set rigorous goals and standards for themselves and for the care they provide. The Standards of Excellence results represent the culmination of their efforts to continually improve the delivery of quality, affordable and accountable patient care. This program can serve as a model for states as they work to implement healthcare reform and begin to establish the very Accountable Care Organizations pioneered by California’s physician groups more than twenty years ago.”

“The Standards of Excellence program analyzes physician group infrastructure capabilities in four areas, each considered central to providing quality, consistency, responsiveness, and affordability for CAPG’s estimated 12 million HMO beneficiaries and approximately six million PPO patients,” said Dr. Wells Shoemaker, CAPG’s medical director. “We view these strict criteria as a roadmap for the country to follow as healthcare reform embraces Accountable Care Organizations.”

The four key elements of patient care include:

  • Care Management Practices – inpatient and outpatient systems to support physicians and patients to achieve reliability, safety, and affordability
  • Health Information Technology – electronic registries to support chronic care, preventive care, professional communication, and advanced electronic record systems
  • Accountability and Transparency – participation in measuring and public reporting, including compliance with stringent fiscal responsibility regulations of the State of California
  • Patient Centered Care – features to accommodate individualized patient needs and preferences, embracing a responsible role in a culturally diverse community

The SOE survey results revealed the following:

  • 80 medical groups caring for more than 10.8 million Californians participated in the voluntary survey.
  • 25 of the responding organizations -- caring for a population of over nine million people -- qualified for the “Elite” category, meaning they surpassed a stiff, peer-defined threshold in all four categories.
  • 14 organizations qualified for “Exemplary” performance, meaning they surpassed the threshold in three of the four categories.

About the Standards of Excellence Survey

CAPG conducts its Standards of Excellence survey annually among its 150 member physician groups to gain an understanding of their “infrastructure” and to offer metrics to measure progress in clinical quality, affordability, access, technology, public accountability, and individual responsiveness to their patients. The survey was taken between March 11 and April 16, 2010 with 80 member physician groups responding. To view the survey results go to: http://www.capg.org/docs/soe_2010_star_chart.pdf.

About CAPG

The California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG) represents groups that employ or contract with nearly 60,000 California doctors and provide care to 15 million Californians. CAPG is committed to improving health care for Californians and supports a progressive and organized system of health care delivery, which focuses on coordinated treatment plans and comprehensive coverage, including the most current preventive services and exams. This allows physicians to focus on illness prevention and proactive management of patients in order to maintain their optimum level of health. www.capg.org.



CONTACT:

For the California Association of Physician Groups
Kris Deutschman, 916-425-7174 (Cell)
[email protected]

KEYWORDS:   United States  North America  California

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Health  Public Policy/Government  Healthcare Reform  Public Policy  White House/Federal Government  General Health

MEDIA:

Logo
 Logo