LOS ANGELES, Sept. 23, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) held the 2014 Annual IHA Stakeholders Meeting to share key updates for the California value based pay for performance (P4P) program and announce the top quality and most improved physician organizations in the state. Awards are based on performance in three P4P quality measurement domains: clinical quality, patient experience, and meaningful use of health information technology.
Out of nearly 200 physician organizations, IHA presented awards to the 39 quality performers that achieved the highest overall quality in measurement year 2013, reported in 2014 and based on the IHA statewide P4P program measures.
Palo Alto Medical Foundation Included in Quality Performers for Eleventh Year
This is the eleventh year that IHA recognized physician organizations with excellent quality. Although several organizations have consistently met the criteria to achieve the highest level of quality performance year after year, only one organization, Palo Alto Medical Foundation – Sutter Health, has received the award every year since 2003.
"Enhancing the health of people in our communities has been our priority, and we're proud to be recognized as a consistent quality performer for over a decade," said Richard Slavin, M.D., chief executive officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation (PAMF), and IHA board director. "We have participated in the P4P program since its inception, and work hard to achieve breakthrough improvements in clinical quality and the patient experience," he added.
Quality Performers
The 39 physician organizations that achieved the Quality Performer status in 2013 were identified by an overall quality score based on their P4P domain scores and compared against a comprehensive threshold calculated from the top 25 percent scores statewide for each P4P quality measure. IHA provides data on Quality Performers for the Office of the Patient Advocate to report on their website, http://www.opa.ca.gov/ .
Quality Performers – Northern California
- Mercy Medical Group/Dignity Health Medical Foundation
- Palo Alto Medical Foundation – Mills-Peninsula Division/Mills-Peninsula Medical Group
- Palo Alto Medical Foundation – Sutter Health
- Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation
- Sutter Gould Medical Foundation
- Sutter Medical Group
- Sutter Medical Group of the Redwoods
- Woodland Healthcare
- Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Groups:
- Diablo/Antioch
- Fremont/San Leandro
- Fresno Medical Center
- Modesto/Manteca/Stockton
- Oakland/Richmond
- Redwood City
- Roseville/Sacramento
- San Jose
- San Rafael
- Santa Clara
- Santa Rosa
- South Sacramento
- South San Francisco
- Vallejo/Vacaville
Quality Performers – Southern California
- Cedars- Sinai Medical Group
- Edinger Medical Group
- MemorialCare Medical Group
- Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
- St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group
- UC San Diego Health System
- Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Groups:
- Baldwin Park
- Downey
- Fontana/Ontario
- Kern County
- Los Angeles
- Orange County
- Panorama City
- Riverside
- San Diego
- South Bay
- West Los Angeles
Most Improved – "Ronald P. Bangasser, MD, Memorial Award for Quality Improvement"
IHA also honored the physician organization that demonstrated the most quality improvement from 2012 to 2013 from each California region. Recipients of the Ronald P. Bangasser, MD, Memorial Award for Quality Improvement for each region are:
- Bay Area Region: Alta Bates Medical Group, a division of Brown & Toland Physicians
- Central Coast Region: Sansum Clinic
- Central Valley Region: Omni IPA Medical Group, Inc. dba Medcore Medical Group
- Inland Empire Region: Loma Linda University Health System
- Los Angeles Region: PIH Health Physicians – Group Division
- Orange Region: St. Jude Hospital Affiliated Physicians
- Sacramento/North Region: NorthBay Medical Practices
- San Diego Region: Multi-Cultural Medical Group
Pay for Performance Payouts
The 2013 measurement year P4P results are used by seven health plans: Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, Cigna HealthCare of California, Health Net of California, UnitedHealthcare, and Western Health Advantage, to calculate incentive payments for distribution to physician organizations in 2014. Kaiser Permanente physician organizations serving Northern and Southern California, Sharp Health Plan, and Chinese Community Health Plan also participate in public reporting and recognition only. Since 2004, health plans have paid nearly $490 million in incentive payments to physician organizations for outstanding quality and service. Each health plan develops its own formula to determine payments, taking into consideration recommendations from the IHA P4P Steering Committee. Payouts for Measurement Year 2013 are distributed during the fall of 2014 and are expected to bring the total cumulative payment to over $510 million.
About the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA)
IHA is a nonprofit statewide leadership group that promotes quality improvement, accountability, and affordability of healthcare in California. The IHA Value Based P4P program is the largest non-government physician incentive program in the U.S. and includes ten health plans and over 200 medical organizations representing approximately 35,000 physicians providing care for 9 million members. For more information, please visit: www.IHA.org .
About the Palo Alto Medical Foundation
The Palo Alto Medical Foundation for Health Care, Research and Education (PAMF) is a not-for-profit health care organization dedicated to enhancing the health of people in our communities. PAMF is part of Sutter Health, a family of not-for-profit hospitals and physician organizations that share resources and expertise to advance health care quality. For more information, please visit: www.pamf.org
Media Contact: Cindy R. Ernst (510) 208-1743
