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Mass. primary care groups score high on quality

E-mail | Print | Comments () Posted by Elizabeth Cooney February 11, 2010 12:01 AM

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Once again, Massachusetts medical groups performed well compared to national benchmarks for the quality of primary care they delivered, with most measures showing improvement, according to an analysis by a health care coalition.

The Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, a nonprofit collaboration of physicians, hospitals, health insurers, consumers, government agencies, and academics, issued its sixth annual report today on how 150 medical groups across the state performed on national guidelines for care in 2008. Consumers and health care providers can go to the MHQP web site, search by doctor's name or by the medical group, and see how well they did in 29 categories of care, including screening for cancer, managing diabetes, and prescribing appropriate medications for depression.

Bay State doctors did better than the national average on 28 of 29 measures, scoring below average only on using the proper drugs for adults with asthma. The doctors were above the 90th percentile on 15 of 29 measures, compared to the national average. When the MHQP analysts looked to see how these health care measures translated into results for patients,
they found steady improvement in the control of cholesterol, diabetes, and high blood pressure over the last three years.

"After six years, the trends are looking good, but there are some spots we need to work on," said Barbra Rabson,[cq] MHQP executive director.

Looking among medical groups, there is still some variation. For example, three-quarters of people in the state got appropriate colorectal screening, but at some medical groups the rate is as low as 49 percent or as high as 92 percent of patients. A similar spread was found for the treatment of low back pain. Massachusetts doctors did well on avoiding unnecessary x-rays, CT scans or MRIs, but they ranged from doing so 97 percent of the time in some practices versus 52 percent in others.

Rabson hopes consumers will take advantage of the data on medical groups online, but believes the information will also be useful for policy makers.

"We do know we are going to be moving away from paying for [patient] volume. As we move to accountable care organizations, patient-centered medical homes, or global payment systems, it's all based on the idea that you reward performance," she said. "This solid foundation is an incredible basis to support these reforms."

Once again, Massachusetts medical groups performed well compared to national benchmarks for the quality of primary care they delivered, with most measures showing improvment, according to an analysis by various health care groups.

The Massachusetts Health Quality Partners, a nonprofit collaboration of physicians, hospitals, health insurers, consumers, government agencies, and academics, issued its sixth annual report today on how 150 medical groups across the state performed on national guidelines for care in 2008. Consumers and health care providers can go to the MHQP web site, search by
doctor's name or by the medical group, and see how well they did in 29 categories of care, including screening for cancer, managing diabetes, and prescribing appropriate medications for depression.

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About white coat notes

White Coat Notes covers the latest from the health care industry, hospitals, doctors offices, labs, insurers, and the corridors of government. Chelsea Conaboy previously covered health care for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Write her at cconaboy@boston.com. Follow her on Twitter: @cconaboy.

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