| BCBSMA Captures Electronic Clinical Outcomes Results From Providers
Med-Vantage said it has successfully launched its
Outcomes Exchange application at Blue Cross Blue Shield of
Massachusetts (BCBSMA).
Outcomes Exchange captures electronic outcomes data directly from physician practices.
According to Andreas Mang, senior director, medical
innovation and leadership at BCBSMA, "We proved that medical outcomes
data are something that can be easily collected. In the evolution of
pay-for- performance, intermediate medical outcomes data are really the
data plans should be striving to collect and use.
While the traditional ‘process’ measures are
valuable from claims data, this outcomes data will tell you a lot more
than simply whether a test was given. We’ll be able to provide
actionable data back to our providers for use in quality improvement.
In addition, we can now determine how well our providers are managing
chronic disease and ultimately track improvement over time."
BCBSMA successfully completed its data collection
program on Jan. 31. The company rolled out the program to 3,500 primary
care physicians with excellent results:
1. High utilization – More than 500 completed electronic submissions, 60 percent higher than expected.
2. Low abandonment rate – More than 97 percent of physicians who entered any data completed the program
3. Few complaints – Support staff was surprised to receive a few calls with more than 4,000 Web hits by primary care physicians.
This program was such a success that BCBSMA will use the
2008 Outcomes Exchange program for allprimary care physicians in their
flagship pay-for-performance program, the Primary Care Physician
Incentive program (PCPIP).
"Collecting outcomes measures needs to become part of
the fabric of all P4P programs," said Mang. "This is the future. This
is where we are going, and a tool like Outcomes Exchange has
facilitated that happening."
Addresses: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, 401 Park Drive, Boston, MA 02115; (617) 246-5000, www.bluecrossma.com. Med-Vantage Inc., 111 Sutter St., 14th Fl., San Francisco, CA 94104; (415) 814-7100, www.medvantage.com.
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