News in brief - July 25, 2011

EMRs more useful than Medicaid claims, study says

Electronic medical records provide a more comprehensive look at health care quality than Medicaid claims, according to a study.

The report, published in the July 1 Annals of Family Medicine, found a high percentage of services provided to patients were documented in EMRs but not in Medicaid claims. Services found only in the EMR included 50.4% of influenza vaccinations, 50.1% of nephropathy screenings, 49.3% of cholesterol screenings and 48.4% of hemoglobin A1c tests. In other cases, they were in the EMR and the Medicaid claim.

There are numerous reasons the services did not show up in the Medicaid claim. One common reason: The patient wasn't enrolled in Medicaid at the time of service.

The report authors concluded that relying solely on Medicaid claims "is likely to substantially underestimate the quality of care." The report is online (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21747107).

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Mass. Blues sends members "rebate" equal to former CEO's severance

In response to criticism of the severance package it gave former CEO Cleve Killingsworth in 2010, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts announced July 6 that it would credit its members an amount equal to that severance: $4.26 million.

The gesture works out to about $2 per member and will be paid either to the individual subscriber, or, for members who are covered through work, to their employer.

The move came in response to findings by the state's attorney general that found fault with the contract the company had with Killingsworth that made the payment necessary, and the board's evaluation of his performance.

Since Killingsworth's departure, the company's board of directors has changed the executive compensation package and the performance evaluation process for the top executive, but the company has maintained that Killingsworth's severance was required under his 2005 employment agreement.

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