Physician groups improve quality and generate savings under Medicare physician P4P demonstration

Physician groups taking part in a Medicare demonstration that rewards them for care management strategies that improve patient outcomes and lower medical costs achieved target performance on most of the project’s quality measures for diabetes care, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced yesterday. AHA News reports that two of the 10 physician groups participating in the first year of the three-year demonstration shared in savings from the program, receiving $7.3 million in performance payments. Other groups had lower Medicare spending growth rates than their local markets but not sufficiently lower to share in savings, CMS said. Year-one quality measures were based on evidence-based guidelines for diabetes patients. Additional measures for congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, hypertension and cancer screening will be implemented during the next two years of the project.