DESCRIPTION:
Pay-for-Performance Reporter
Hospital
and physician pay-for-performance initiatives are a potential
multi-billion
trend sweeping the nation as Medicare and insurers strive to increase
healthcare quality and reduce costs.
In
2005, millions of dollars were paid to hospitals and physician groups
in pay
for performance bonuses. Numerous health plans have now launched their
own
version of hospital and physician pay for quality improvement
incentives.
Is
pay-for-performance just another "gimmick," a passing fad or payor
"contrivance," that impacts on how hospitals and physicians get paid,
or will the quality performance lessons learned reshape payor-provider
dynamics?
No
one can say for absolute certainty. That's why Pay-for -Performance
Reporter is
a valuable tool for you. It provides you with answers to
questions you may have, with facts,
news, insights and emerging hospital and physician P4P developments.
Pay-for-Performance
Reporter
will arrive in your e-mail inbox and in print on your desk every month
with the
latest news and information on physician incentives and key
developments.
Carefully researched and
compiled for you by the Managed Care Information Center editorial
team, you can rely on the information in every issue of Pay-for-Performance
Reporter. We have been covering and reporting on
managed care since
1985 and the pay for performance emerging trend since 2002.
Hospital and
Physician
Pay-for-Performance News,
Expansion and Trends
As
quality concerns escalate and healthcare costs skyrocket, more
healthcare pay
for performance incentive reimbursement programs are being implemented
by
health plans around the country as a way to reward healthcare
efficiency and
effectiveness.
P4P
focuses on both quality issues and patient satisfaction. But the
quality in
care is uppermost and zeros in on the deadly "quality gaps" that
contribute to 42,000 to 79,000 avoidable deaths every year, based on
National
Committee For Quality Assurance (NCQA) figures.
Pay-for-performance
physician initiative awards were up 25 percent last year,
but some
doctors are wary of the programs, according to two studies recently
released. Most industry experts believe P4P programs will
continue to
grow and be embraced by health plans. For instance, BlueCross
BlueShield
Plans are offering physician pay-for-quality programs in 32 states and
expect
to implement programs in 14 additional states in the near future; Aetna, Cigna and
HealthAmerica and HealthAssurance have also begun physician bonus
incentive
programs; and, Medicare launched a program to reward providers for the
quality
of care they deliver.
The Bridges
to Excellence (BTE) Coalition launched
a series of major physician pay-for-performance (P4P) initiatives
involving the
Medicare program, various business coalitions, a large national health
plan and
an important regional BlueCross Blue Shield plan. Together, the
initiatives
cover more than 10 states and 2 million people.
P4P is
not a magic bullet, one new study cautioned, and there are many
challenges to
overcome for it to sustain its effect on the quality of healthcare,
including
whether it can work in all healthcare settings. For instance, one
expert says hospital
or physician performance award programs can be complicated to
implement.
Pay-for-Performance
Reporter:
Insider Lessons and
Developments
That's why it’s
important
to have in one place, carefully researched and documented for you the
most
important developments, news and insight you'll get with your monthly
subscription to Pay-for-Performance
Reporter.
In each issue,
you’ll
get:
- Insider
lessons learned by early adopters of physician incentive bonus
programs, executives, and physician leaders
- The latest
from the organizations that have 'pioneered' exploration of physician
and hospital Pay-for-Performance programs including the Integrated
Healthcare Association (IHA), The Leapfrog Group, and such
participating health plans as Aetna, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, CIGNA,
Health Net, and PacifiCare
- News on the
latest research like the study that showed significant quality
improvements as a result of a physician pay-for-performance program by
a large health plan
- Answers to
your questions about physician P4P: Is there a "right way" to get
physician buy-in? What makes for an effective outcomes-based physician
incentive program? How is a "P4P" program implemented? What do health
plans want in a provider performance quality program? What are the
categories for physician incentives and hospital measures?
- Information
from those involved in setting up and administering these physician
incentive programs
- What's
working in P4P
- Insight like
how to deal with the top ten P4P pitfalls, or physician incentive
examples and best practices
- Characteristics
of successful incentive bonus programs to date
and a preview
of the next generation of provider incentive programs.
- Details on
new quality of care and patient satisfaction programs
- Sources for
assistance in setting up a P4P program
- Where P4P is
headed in the years ahead
- Pro and cons
from leading health organizations and stakeholders such as the National
Business Coalition on Health, the American Medical Association, AARP,
the American College of Physicians, and, The Alliance of Specialty
Medicine
As a
Charter Subscriber, you will receive the following benefits:
- Pay-for-Performance
Reporter delivered to you in print and via email monthly
- Personalized
news alerts – we will email you “breaking
news”
- Results of
exclusive reader surveys
- Exclusive
research reports prepared by the MCIC editorial staff
- Access to an
online discussion group where you can join with health and managed care
executives as well as other professionals on issues and topics of P4P.
Subscribe today and
discover how early adopters achieved physician "buy in," the
importance of leverage, how to choose your performance incentive
measures
wisely and choose measures that are defensible, and why provider
feedback is so
important. Every month you'll receive an objective, balanced
report with
current news and findings surrounding P4P.
Plus, for a limited time,
get the FREE bonus, “Getting
it Right: Designing
Outcomes-Based Physician
Incentive Compensation,” a senior level audio
conference on
CD-ROM, a
$149 value,
with your paid subscription.
About The Managed Care Information Center
We
have been reporting on managed care specifically since 1985. The Managed Care
Information Center (MCIC)
gathers, collects,
compiles, analyzes, studies, interprets and distributes business news
and
information on the managed care industry. The MCIC delivers this
strategic
business information to its clients via executive newsletters,
yearbooks,
leading industry databases and directories, management reports, and
client
research studies. The information is available in print, on CD-ROM and
via the
Internet at www.themcic.com
and www.healthresourcesonline.com/managed_care
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