Quality care
Primary care performance measurement goes public

The demand for access to affordable, quality health care by those who provide it, receive it and pay for it has encouraged performance measurement initiatives across the country. In Oregon, a broad quality measurement initiative was launched last winter. “Partner for Quality Care: Information for a Healthy Oregon” is managed by the nonprofit Oregon Health Care Quality Corporation.

The initiative’s goal is to balance the interests of physicians, purchasers/employers, health plans and patients in quality health care. CareOregon has been actively involved with the initiative by working collaboratively with other health plans and stakeholders.

Starting in February, performance reports for clinics and medical groups with four or more adult primary care physicians are on a public web site. Performance information on individual physicians will not be published.

The purpose of the reports is to:

• Provide practitioners with information they can use to improve the quality of the care they provide their patients.
• Provide a snapshot of the care that can highlight successes as well as focus on areas that need more attention.
• Provide information to providers that they might not otherwise get. For example, patient-level detail about prescriptions that were actually filled.

The reports now include quality measurement data on a select group of nationally endorsed quality measures for asthma medication, diabetes care, depression medication, heart disease and preventive health care for women. The data is aggregated from 2008 and 2009 administrative claims from eight of Oregon’s largest health plans: CareOregon; HealthNet of Oregon; Kaiser Permanente; Lifewise Health Plan of Oregon; ODS Health Plan; PacificSource Health Plans; Providence Health Plans; and Regence BlueCross BlueShield. More health plans will be included in future reports.

These reports have been made available to physicians two ways:

• Adult primary care physicians practicing in clinics with four or more practitioners should have received the reports in the mail.
• A secure web site developed specifically for practitioners includes patient-level data and an opportunity to understand how scores were determined. On this web site, physicians may validate the accuracy of the measures and find information useful for improving patient care. To find out how to access the secure physician reports, visit: www.PartnerForQualityCareForPractitioners.org.

Physician outreach, quality improvement and patient engagement activities

To promote understanding and use of the quality measurement reports, two nurses experienced in practice management and quality improvement are available to work with physician practices to help them access, interpret and use the quality measurement reports, free of charge.

In addition to working with physicians and health plans, the initiative also works closely with consumer experts and consumer groups to educate patients about how they can be more involved in and responsible for their own health care. A consumer friendly website, launched in June 2009, provides tips and information to help patients understand the responsibility they shoulder in getting quality health care.

Input welcome

The initiative welcomes feedback from physicians and clinic staff.

• Email: info@partnerforqualitycareforpractitioners.org
• Phone: 503-241-3571

Visit the web site for practitioners

Visit the web site for the general public