IHA Recognizes California Provider Organizations for Healthcare Performance

The Integrated Healthcare Association’s Align. Measure. Perform. program honors top-performing and most-improved provider organizations


OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 05, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) today announced top-performing provider organizations in clinical quality, patient experience, and affordability, and those demonstrating the most significant year-to-year improvement within its statewide Align. Measure. Perform. (AMP) program.

AMP is a statewide, voluntary healthcare performance measurement, public recognition and reporting, and incentive program for health plans and providers. Since 2003, AMP has given provider organizations a complete picture of their healthcare performance, enabling them to track progress toward improvement goals. The program collects data from 13 health plans and nearly 200 provider organizations to measure everyone by the same standards and create clear, reliable performance benchmarks. AMP covers nearly 95% of Commercial HMO lives in California. The annual awards provide tangible evidence of provider organizations’ hard work to achieve high-quality, equitable, and affordable care and commitment to improving health outcomes. The Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA) publicly reports AMP’s program results each year, allowing consumers to compare provider performance within their geographic area.

The 2023 AMP Commercial HMO program results saw several noteworthy improvements in clinical quality compared to 2022. These improvements have meaningful impacts on patient care and the health of our communities:

  • 48,000 more patients screened for colorectal cancer
  • 21,000 more patients whose blood pressure was adequately controlled
  • 26,000 more patients with diabetes whose blood sugar was within the suggested clinical range
  • 19,000 more patients screened for cervical cancer

“With a growing focus on accelerating healthcare quality and equity improvement across California’s healthcare purchasers and regulators, provider organizations have shown continued commitment to delivering outstanding patient care. At the same time, we can’t lose sight of the critical need to improve healthcare affordability for Californians,” says Dolores Yanagihara, MPH, AMP General Manager, noting that IHA recently announced a redesign of its AMP program beginning in Measurement Year 2024. “The redesigned program includes a more focused measure set that amplifies and aligns with other statewide accountability programs, as well as a higher impact incentive design emphasizing clinical quality, adjusted for total cost of care.”

Excellence in Healthcare

Of the nearly 200 participating provider organizations across the state, 22 met IHA’s Excellence in Healthcare performance standards for 2023. Provider organizations in this category performed in the top 50% in all three AMP measurement areas: clinical quality, patient experience, and total cost of care. If all participating provider organizations performed at the same level as the Excellence in Healthcare Award honorees, healthcare savings would be about $2.7 billion a year – or about $282 in savings per member.

This year’s 3 first-time Excellence in Healthcare award recipients have shown significant growth in clinical quality performance over time, achieving average annual improvements of approximately 3% and an average total increase of 12% since joining the program. These consistent advancements underscore their commitment to continuous quality improvement and the impact of their ongoing participation in the AMP Program.

The 2023 Excellence in Healthcare recipients are:

  • Axminster Medical Group
  • Desert Oasis Healthcare
  • Edinger Medical Group
  • Facey Medical Group
  • Hill Physicians Medical Group – Bay Region
  • Hill Physicians Medical Group – Sacramento Region
  • Hoag Medical Group
  • Hoag Physician Partners
  • John Muir Health
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group – Kern County
  • Korean American Medical Group, Inc.
  • Mercy Medical Group/Dignity Health Medical Foundation
  • Mission Heritage Medical Group
  • Optum Care Network - North County SD
  • Optum, formerly known as HealthCare Partners Medical Group
  • PIH Health Physicians – Downey Division
  • Providence Medical Group Sonoma
  • Saint John’s Physician Partners
  • Scripps Coastal Medical Center
  • Sharp Community Medical Group
  • St. Mary’s High Desert Medical Group
  • UCLA Medical Group – Santa Monica Bay Physicians

Top Performance

Provider organizations in this category performed in the top 10% in one or more of AMP’s measurement areas (clinical quality, patient experience, or total cost of care). The Top 10% Clinical Quality awardees outperform the national 66th percentile benchmark by 7.4 to 18.9 percentage points on colorectal cancer screening, diabetes blood sugar management, high blood pressure management, and childhood immunizations, four core measures found in all standard measure sets. This translates to more patients getting recommended care.

Top 10% Clinical Quality

  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Group
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - Fremont/San Leandro Medical Centers
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - Redwood City Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - San Francisco Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - San Jose Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - San Rafael Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - Santa Clara Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Northern California Permanente Medical Group - South San Francisco Medical Center
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Baldwin Park
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Los Angeles
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Orange County
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Panorama City
  • Kaiser Permanente Southern California Permanente Medical Group - San Diego
  • Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
  • Sutter Medical Foundation - Sutter Medical Group
  • Sutter Palo Alto Medical Foundation - Mills-Peninsula Division/Mills-Peninsula Medical Group
  • Sutter Palo Alto Medical Foundation - Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group
  • UC San Diego Health

Top 10% Patient Experience

  • Cedars-Sinai Health Associates
  • Cedars-Sinai Medical Group
  • Mercy Medical Group/Dignity Health Medical Foundation
  • Mission Heritage Medical Group
  • Rady Children's Health Network
  • Scripps Clinic Medical Group
  • Scripps Coastal Medical Center
  • Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
  • Sutter East Bay Medical Foundation – Sutter East Bay Medical Group
  • Sutter Palo Alto Medical Foundation - Mills-Peninsula Division/Mills-Peninsula Medical Group
  • Sutter Palo Alto Medical Foundation - Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group
  • UC San Diego Health
  • UCLA Medical Group
  • UCLA Medical Group - Santa Monica Bay Physicians

Top 10% Total Cost of Care

  • Advantage Health Network, part of Astrana Health
  • Adventist Health Care Network
  • Allied Pacific of California IPA, part of Astrana Health
  • Angeles-IPA, A Medical Corporation
  • Associated Hispanic Physicians of Southern California
  • Desert Valley Medical Group Inc.
  • Diamond Bar Medical Group (aka Greater Orange County MG)
  • El Proyecto Managed Care, LLC.
  • Family Care Specialists IPA
  • Family Health Alliance
  • Hispanic Physicians IPA dba Medico Hispano IPA
  • Korean American Medical Group, Inc.
  • Providence Affiliated Physicians, St Mary
  • Prudent Medical Group
  • San Benito Medical Associates
  • Seoul Medical Group
  • St. Vincent IPA
  • Torrance Memorial IPA
  • Visalia Medical Clinic, an affiliate of Kaweah Delta Medical Foundation

The Ronald P. Bangasser, MD, Memorial Award for Quality Improvement

IHA recognized the provider organizations that demonstrated the highest year-to-year relative quality improvement from each of eight California regions.

Recipients of the Ronald P. Bangasser, MD, Memorial Award for Quality Improvement for each region are:

Bay Area: Kaiser Permanente Northern California Medical Group – Diablo/Antioch Medical Centers

Central Coast: Seaview IPA

Central Valley: Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group – Kern County

Inland Empire: Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group – San Bernardino

Los Angeles: Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medical Group – Panorama City

Orange County: Prospect Medical Group - Inland Empire and San Diego

Sacramento: North Bay Health Medical Group

San Diego: UC San Diego Health

About Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA)

Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) brings the healthcare community together to solve industry-wide challenges that stand in the way of high-value care. As a non-profit industry association, we use our decades of expertise, objective data, and unique role as a trusted facilitator to make the healthcare system work better for everyone. We provide insights that help the healthcare system continuously improve. We build new tools that simplify how the industry works together. And we provide a forum for cross-industry leaders - through our boards and programs - to have honest conversations that guide the future of healthcare.

For more information, please visit https://www.iha.org or contact Ashley Burkett at press@iha.org.