AMA Wire

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

News for Young Physicians

New alliance aims to standardize reports used in physician profiling

New alliance aims to standardize reports used in physician profiling

An AMA effort supported by more than 60 organizations is designed to turn the data reports physicians receive from health insurers into more useful tools to enhance the quality and value of patient care.

The "Guidelines for Reporting Physician Data" aim to make physician data reports, which are complex and unique to each health plan, easy to understand and use. Created by the AMA with input from public and private health insurers, state and specialty medical societies, and employer and consumer coalitions, the guidelines provide a roadmap for improving the usefulness of physician data reports for data-driven decision making.

In particular, the guidelines call for greater standardization of the format of reports, increased transparency of the reporting process and a heightened level of detail.

Among the organizations that support use of the new guidelines are the National Committee on Quality Assurance, Cigna, Midwest Business Group on Health and UnitedHealth Group.

"The organizations who have pledged to use the AMA guidelines recognize that providing physicians with ineffective or inaccurate practice data represents a missed opportunity," AMA President Jeremy A. Lazarus, MD, said in a news release. "Encouraging industry-wide standardization of practice data reports will help physicians double-check the information and use accurate data as a tool to identify opportunities for practice improvement."

A guide from the AMA also helps physicians verify the accuracy of profiling reports and use the data for practice improvement.

View AMA-YPS final actions from annual assembly meeting

Compilations of AMA Young Physicians Section (YPS) actions and positions on items of business considered by the AMA House of Delegates during last month's Annual Meeting are now available.

These items include AMA-YPS final actions on items of business considered by the section, and final AMA-YPS handbook review grids depicting the section's positions on House business.