BCBS California/PBGH to release physician rating system

A new physician-rating system co-created by Blue Shield of California and the Pacific Business Group on Heath (PBGH) will be released June 1, 2010. The Blue Ribbon Recognition Program will highlight physicians who achieve high scores according to evidence-based quality standards. Out of 13,000 high-volume doctors in the state, those whose scores are “above average” based on data collected for up to eight measures by the California Physician Performance Initiative (CPPI) will have a blue ribbon icon placed next to their online Blue Shield profiles (www.blueshieldca.com/findaprovider). The performance results are drawn from data collected by the California Physician Performance Initiative (CPPI), a multi-stakeholder initiative run by physician organizations, health plans, purchasers, consumers and health data experts to measure and report on the performance of California’s physicians. Started in 2006 and run by CCHRI, CPPI aggregates claims data covering more than 5 million patients and 63,000 physicians to generate a reliable set of quality metrics.