Publicly reporting quality measures spurs physician practices to improve performance on these measures, according to a study in Health Affairs.
Researchers evaluated the effect of publicly reporting quality measures on subsequent improvement on these measures by physician practices from 2004 to 2009. The study included 20 physician groups representing 582 affiliated clinics that participated in the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, which requires physician groups to annually report quality outcomes, which are posted by group name on the collaborative's website.
Overall, the collaborative improved performance on each quality measure. More practices in the collaborative improved quality than stayed the same or worsened, with one exception, according to the study. In general, physician groups that originally ranked the lowest among groups in the collaborative improved at a greater rate than those ranked higher, regardless of the overall compliance rate.
In addition, groups in the collaborative performed better than comparison groups in Wisconsin and surrounding states on glycohemoglobin testing and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol testing in patients with diabetes and in breast cancer screening, which are reported by the collaborative. For diabetes-related eye examinations, a measure which was not reported by the collaborative, Iowa and South Dakota outperformed providers in the collaborative.
The authors concluded that public reporting of quality data can drive performance improvement by physician groups.
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Researchers evaluated the effect of publicly reporting quality measures on subsequent improvement on these measures by physician practices from 2004 to 2009. The study included 20 physician groups representing 582 affiliated clinics that participated in the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality, which requires physician groups to annually report quality outcomes, which are posted by group name on the collaborative's website.
Overall, the collaborative improved performance on each quality measure. More practices in the collaborative improved quality than stayed the same or worsened, with one exception, according to the study. In general, physician groups that originally ranked the lowest among groups in the collaborative improved at a greater rate than those ranked higher, regardless of the overall compliance rate.
In addition, groups in the collaborative performed better than comparison groups in Wisconsin and surrounding states on glycohemoglobin testing and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol testing in patients with diabetes and in breast cancer screening, which are reported by the collaborative. For diabetes-related eye examinations, a measure which was not reported by the collaborative, Iowa and South Dakota outperformed providers in the collaborative.
The authors concluded that public reporting of quality data can drive performance improvement by physician groups.
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