Do You Know Your Physicians’ Practice Patterns?

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We’ve written a lot about the importance of physician performance measurement, and of course, it’s a big focus for us since we have an application devoted to physician scorecards.

Why is there such a big focus on measuring physician performance? First of all, the Joint Commission’s Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluation (OPPE) requires hospitals to measure physician performance for granting practice privileges.

Secondly, we know that physicians are the key to improving hospital quality and safety and lowering costs. Any initiatives to drive quality and efficiency improvements within your physician ranks can lead not only to better financial performance, but also just as importantly, better patient care.

Here are some compelling facts:

• CMS data shows that 61% of all healthcare spending is directly influenced by physicians. That’s huge, and performance measurement can help you identify areas for cost improvements.
• For the first time ever this year, CMS released Medicare Physician Payments Data, which provides information on payments, professionals and procedures. That means that transparency is much greater, and we have the opportunity to delve into these numbers and make improvements based on them.
• If every state improved to the best performing state levels, there would be nearly 1.5 million fewer emergency room visits, more than 180,000 fewer readmissions, and tens of thousands of fewer deaths from diseases such as cancer. These statistics show us that improvements can save lives and help you better serve your patients.

That’s why it’s so critical that hospitals know how their doctors stack up against their peers and others in the healthcare industry.