SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Ninety-five physician organizations in California received bonuses today through Blue Shield of California's program to reward medical groups for improving health care quality and patient satisfaction, and making technology investments to support patient care. Medical groups participating in Blue Shield's HMO network received a total of $24.1 million in various bonus programs for 2003, double the amount paid last year.
Medical groups taking top honors in pay-for-performance scores are: Sharp Mission Park Medical Group, San Diego; Brown & Toland Medical Group, San Francisco; and Hill Physicians Medical Group (East Bay). Collectively, these medical groups serve more than 420,000 Blue Shield members. Brown & Toland and Hill Physicians (East Bay and Sacramento) received the largest incentives, which are based on a combination of membership and performance.
"We are pleased to recognize and reward physicians for delivering high quality medical care complemented by outstanding patient service," said David Joyner, senior vice president, Network Management, Blue Shield of California. "This is part of our ongoing commitment to transparency in cost and quality of health care."
Blue Shield of California was one of the first health plans to make a full commitment to support the pay-for-performance program. The evaluation process measures the quality of care given to HMO patients by physician groups, using health outcomes and patient satisfaction information. The quality measures include patient satisfaction scores, preventive services, and chronic care management. Clinical measures tracked include managing chronic diseases, such as diabetes or coronary artery disease, and adherence to screening guidelines for breast and cervical cancer.
"We join Blue Shield in the goal of recognizing and rewarding high quality service and clinical performance," said Jerry Penso, M.D., Associate Medical Director, Quality Programs at Sharp Rees-Stealy/Sharp Mission Park. "Sharp Mission Park's physicians, employees, and administration work together as a team to continuously improve the quality and service we provide to Blue Shield members and all of our patients. We take pride in this accomplishment and will continue to strive to make Sharp Mission Park the best place to receive care, the best place to work, and the best place to practice medicine."
"We are proud to be recognized for our outcomes and patient satisfaction," said Steve McDermott, chief executive officer of Hill Physicians Medical Group. "We applaud Blue Shield's leadership in the growing movement to measure results and reward high performers."
"We are obviously very pleased with our clinical results," said Fiona Wilson, M.D., vice president of Quality Initiatives, at Brown & Toland Medical Group. "We have placed an emphasis on providing the correct preventative measures at the right time, both to keep our patients healthy and to reduce the overall cost of health care."
Highest Scoring Medical Groups Northern California San Francisco Brown & Toland Medical Group East Bay Hill Physicians Medical Group Sacramento Hill Physicians Medical Group Solano Hill Physicians Medical Group Marin Marin IPA Southern California San Diego Sharp Mission Park Medical Group San Diego Sharp Community Medical Group IPA San Diego Scripps Mercy Medical Group Los Angeles UCLA Medical Group San Diego Sharp Rees Stealy Medical Centers
Founded in 1939, Blue Shield of California is one of the state's leading health plans. Headquartered in San Francisco, the not-for-profit corporation has approximately 3.2 million members, 4,300 employees and more than 20 office locations throughout California. For more information on Blue Shield, visit the company's Web site at http://www.mylifepath.com/.
For further information, please contact Patrice Smith, Director of Corporate Communications of Blue Shield of California, +1-415-229-6366, patrice.smith@blueshieldca.com.
Blue Shield of CaliforniaCONTACT: Patrice Smith, Director of Corporate Communications of BlueShield of California, +1-415-229-6366, patrice.smith@blueshieldca.com
Web site: http://www.mylifepath.com/