Medicare to provide physician performance data
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) quality improvement organization Delmarva Foundation for Medical Care (Delmarva) has entered into subcontracts with four regional collaboratives, as part of the Better Quality Information to Improve Care for Medicare Beneficiaries (BQI) project. The subcontractors involved include: Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE), Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP), Minnesota Community Measurement (MNCM), and Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ).
The project will combine Medicare data with data from other insurers to produce information on the performance of healthcare providers.
The general purpose of the BQI project is firstly to provide performance information to physicians that will assist them in improving the quality of care, and also to give physician performance information to patients to help them make decisions, CMS said.
“This is an important advancement,” said CMS Acting Administrator Leslie V. Norwalk, Esq. “The BQI project will give Medicare beneficiaries a broad overview of provider performance resulting in better choices in meeting their healthcare needs. The regional collaboratives, spurred by great leadership from physicians and others in the healthcare community, will also provide critical information to physicians and Medicare on the best practices for data collection, aggregation, and reporting.”
The BQI Project is part of HHS’ four cornerstones of quality healthcare, including: interoperable health IT; price transparency of price information; transparency of quality information; and incentives to promote high-quality and cost-efficient healthcare. The subcontracts will help the BQI project to apply these principles to the Medicare program, CMS said.
CMS said it plans to announce two additional BQI subcontractors shortly.
For more: www.hhs.gov/transparency.
The project will combine Medicare data with data from other insurers to produce information on the performance of healthcare providers.
The general purpose of the BQI project is firstly to provide performance information to physicians that will assist them in improving the quality of care, and also to give physician performance information to patients to help them make decisions, CMS said.
“This is an important advancement,” said CMS Acting Administrator Leslie V. Norwalk, Esq. “The BQI project will give Medicare beneficiaries a broad overview of provider performance resulting in better choices in meeting their healthcare needs. The regional collaboratives, spurred by great leadership from physicians and others in the healthcare community, will also provide critical information to physicians and Medicare on the best practices for data collection, aggregation, and reporting.”
The BQI Project is part of HHS’ four cornerstones of quality healthcare, including: interoperable health IT; price transparency of price information; transparency of quality information; and incentives to promote high-quality and cost-efficient healthcare. The subcontracts will help the BQI project to apply these principles to the Medicare program, CMS said.
CMS said it plans to announce two additional BQI subcontractors shortly.
For more: www.hhs.gov/transparency.