California Physician Organization Top Performers and Most Improved Honored by Integrated Healthcare Association

OAKLAND, Calif.-(Business Wire)-September 24, 2009 - In the midst of a national debate about the future of health care in America, the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) today announced the physician organizations that achieved overall performance in the top 20% in 2008 based on the statewide pay for performance (P4P) program measures. In addition to celebrating the top performers, IHA presented awards to physician organizations designated as “most improved” within each of the eight P4P regions. Both top performer and most improved awards were presented at the IHA Pay for Performance Stakeholders Meeting in Los Angeles on September 24, 2009, and are based on performance in four measurement domains: clinical quality, patient experience, information technology-enabled systemness, and coordinated diabetes care.

Most notably, Solano Regional Medical Group (SRMG) in the Sacramento region, affiliated with Sutter Regional Medical Foundation, was the only physician organization to achieve both the top performer and most improved awards – and it is the second time the organization has achieved this distinction. “We are all humbled and excited to receive this level of recognition,” says Samuel J. Santoro, D.O., FACOG, President of SRMG. “These awards serve to reinforce our Medical Group's collective dedication and determination to be the absolute best place for our patients and their families to receive medical care.”

Top performing physician organizations are identified by calculating a composite score in each of the four P4P measurement domains, which are then weighted according to the recommended P4P payment weightings to compute an overall composite score. The 46 groups with the highest overall composite scores are designated as top overall performers.

Top Performers

Bay Area Region

Affinity Medical Group
Marin IPA
Mills-Peninsula Medical Group
Palo Alto Medical Foundation, A Sutter Health Affiliate
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Diablo Service Area Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Greater Southern Alameda Area Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Oakland/Richmond Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Redwood City Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - San Francisco Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - San Jose Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - San Mateo - South San Francisco Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - San Rafael Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Santa Clara/Milpitas/Campbell/Mountain View Medical Center

Central Valley Region

Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Kern County
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Fresno Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Stockton/Modesto/Manteca/Tracy Medical Center

Inland Empire Region

Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Fontana
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Riverside

Los Angeles Region

Cedars-Sinai Medical Group
HealthCare Partners Medical Group
Pioneer Medical Group
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Antelope Valley
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Baldwin Park
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Bellflower
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Los Angeles
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Panorama
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - South Bay
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - West Los Angeles
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Woodland Hills
UCLA Medical Group

Orange County Region

Bristol Park Medical Group, Inc.
Edinger Medical Group
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - Orange County
St. Joseph Heritage Medical Group
St. Jude Heritage Medical Group

Sacramento Region

Humboldt-Del Norte Independent Practice Association
Sutter Regional Medical Foundation/Solano Regional Medical Group
Sutter West Medical Group
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Napa/Solano Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - North Valley - Roseville/Sacramento Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - Santa Rosa Medical Center
The Permanente Medical Group, Inc. - South Sacramento Medical Center
Woodland Healthcare

San Diego Region

Sharp Rees-Stealy Medical Group
Southern California Permanente Medical Group - San Diego
UC San Diego Medical Center

Most Improved – “Ronald P. Bangasser, MD, Memorial Award for Quality Improvement”

IHA also recognizes the physician organizations that demonstrated the most improvement over the previous year, an award in memory of Dr. Ronald P. Bangasser who was a family physician, vice-chairman of the Board of Beaver Medical Group, and contributed significantly to the pay for performance program and quality improvement initiatives. Overall composite scores based on the four P4P measurement domains are calculated for each physician organization each year, along with a score for the amount of overall improvement the organization achieved over the previous year. The physician organization in each of eight P4P regions that scored the highest for improvement is designated as the most improved organization in that region.


		Bay Area Region:			Physicians Medical Group of San Jose
		Central Coast Region:			SeaView IPA
		Central Valley Region:			AllCare IPA
		Inland Empire Region:			Loma Linda University Health Care
		Los Angeles Region:			Good Samaritan Medical Practice Association
		Orange County Region:			AMVI Medical Group
		Sacramento Region:			Sutter Regional Medical Foundation/
					Solano Regional Medical Group
		San Diego Region:			Centre for Health Care

Pay for Performance Payouts

In addition to being used for determining awards, the 2008 measurement year results are used by seven health plans – Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield of California, CIGNA HealthCare of California, Health Net of California, Western Health Advantage, and UnitedHealthcare – to calculate incentive payments for distribution to physician groups in 2009. Health plan incentive payments from 2004 to 2008 have totaled over $264 million to physician organizations as a result of meeting P4P measurement criteria for clinical quality, patient experience, and information technology-enabled systemness. Each health plan develops its own formula to determine payments, taking into consideration recommendations from the IHA P4P Steering Committee. 2008 payouts are distributed during the fall of 2009.

About the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA)

IHA is a statewide leadership group that promotes quality improvement, accountability, and affordability of healthcare in California. The IHA P4P program is the largest non-governmental physician incentive program in the U.S. and includes 8 health plans (including Kaiser for reporting only) and over 225 medical organizations representing 35,000 physicians providing care for 10.5 million members. Other IHA programs include: value-based purchasing of medical devices; the measurement and reward of healthcare efficiency; and healthcare affordability. For more information, please visit: www.IHA.org.

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