Writing for the Center for Studying Health System Change, Debra A. Draper sees great potential in the quantification of physician performance, but finds the current system, primarily constructed and maintained by insurance providers, to be inadequate and fragmented. The health plans generally provide non-standardized information that does not offer physicians any clear avenues for improvement or provide any clear rewards for those who are doing well, Draper said. Draper summarizes the current state of physician effectiveness measurements, explores their potential and suggests some possible improvements, including the following:
- Creating a meaningful reward system for high-rated physicians.
- Allowing physicians to see the rating data for colleagues to whom they are referring patients.
- Providing peer-learning opportunities and support to physicians as they try to cultivate high-rating practices.
- Evaluating doctors across their entire range of patients, not just in narrow practice areas.
- Creating a legal mandate, perhaps modeled on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ “Generating Medicare Physician Quality Performance Measurement Results,” to standardize and expand performance evaluation.
