OAKLAND, Calif., Nov. 18, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Today, the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) announced the first annual winners of its new Excellence in Healthcare Award. In keeping with the national imperative to reduce the cost of the healthcare system while delivering high quality care to consumers, this award recognizes provider organizations in California that have succeeded in controlling costs while ensuring their patients receive high quality, evidence-based care. The Excellence in Healthcare Award is a distinct departure from the past eleven years of IHA pay for performance awards based on quality and patient experience only.
To earn this recognition, physician organizations must have performance that ranks in the top 50% of organizations for each of three domains: clinical quality, patient experience, and total cost of care. Out of nearly 200 physician organizations, eleven achieved this honor for 2014, based on the IHA statewide Value Based Pay for Performance (P4P) program results for measurement year 2013.
The Value Based P4P program is a successful statewide collaboration that encompasses uniform performance measures, aggregated data collection and validation, a trusted governance process, and a single public report card for physician groups in California. Over the life of the program, steady, incremental performance improvements have been achieved in the quality of healthcare delivered by P4P participants. However, the dramatic increase in California's healthcare costs over the past decade necessitates an increased focus on affordability.
"For the first time, California physician organizations have clear information on both quality and cost performance of their organization relative to peers," said David Joyner, Chief Operating Officer, Hill Physicians Medical Group, and IHA Board Chair. "Hill Physicians has worked hard to offer the highest quality clinical care and patient experience as efficiently as possible, and I am thrilled that two Hill Physician Medical Group regions will be recognized for this achievement."
Excellence in Healthcare Award Winners
- Affinity Medical Group
- Arch Health Partners
- Encompass Medical Group
- Hill Physicians Medical Group, Bay Region
- Hill Physicians Medical Group, Solano Region
- Physicians Medical Group of Santa Cruz
- Mercy Medical Group/Dignity Health Medical Foundation
- Meritage Medical Network
- PIH Health Physicians - Group Division
- St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group
- UC Davis Medical Group
Kaiser Permanente has been a long time participant in the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) and strongly supports Value Based Reporting. Kaiser Permanente's integrated network and methodology for reporting has created the need for further refinement of data to be comparable to the market relative to the Total Cost of Care initiative. While Kaiser Permanente will not be reporting this first year, efforts are underway so that it will be part of the Excellence of Healthcare Awards next year.
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 includes ten health plans and over 200 medical organizations representing approximately 35,000 physicians providing care for 9 million members. For more information: www.IHA.org.