HAP to recognize doctors who enroll in Maintenance of Certification
and complete ABIM’s self-evaluation tool

DETROIT, December 12, 2006 – Health Alliance Plan is the first Michigan health insurer to recognize and reward all internal medicine physicians in HAP Networks who complete the American Board of Internal Medicine’s (ABIM) Practice Improvement Modules (PIMs) for Diabetes and Hypertension.

Physicians from the following specialties are eligible: Internal Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Cardiology, Endocrinology and Nephrology.

ABIM’s Practice Improvement Modules are innovative web-based tools that enable physicians to analyze and evaluate their practice performance so that they can improve the quality of patient care. Each module offers an opportunity for physicians to review current clinical practice guidelines and their own practice.

To be eligible, physicians must be enrolled in ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification program. Physicians complete PIMs by collecting and analyzing patient care data from their medical practices. The interactive tool guides physicians to assess their individual performance using quality measurement data for a chronic condition or preventive service, create a plan, and take action to improve patient care.

“Medical science continues to evolve at an astonishing rate, which makes lifelong learning essential for doctors to stay current and provide the high quality of medical care every patient deserves,” said Mary Beth Bolton, M.D. “Most physicians find completing a PIM to be a valuable experience. Physicians can make substantial improvements in both reliability and quality of care outcomes for patients.

A growing body of evidence suggests that consumers want more information related to their physicians’ quality performance. HAP is committed to bringing our members first-hand information about the quality of care provided by our physicians.”

Nationally, insurers are beginning to use participation in ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification program and completion of PIMs to help physicians qualify for recognition and potential pay for performance rewards.

“The performance measurement requirements provide a framework for physicians to become competent in improvement science and to analyze an important disease, such as diabetes, from a quality, patient and system perspective,” said John Popovich, Jr., MD, chair of the Department of Internal Medicine of Henry Ford Hospital and former chair of the ABIM Board of Directors. “ABIM is committed to helping physicians meet the growing quality reporting requirements of patients, purchasers and payers.”

“By recognizing physicians who are participating in Maintenance of Certification and evaluating their practice performance with an ABIM PIM, health plans are reducing physicians’ measurement burden and recognizing the profession’s standards for quality,” said Christine Cassel, M.D., ABIM’s president and CEO.

HAP will provide a stipend to encourage participation in Maintenance of Certification. The completed Practice Improvement Module will be used as evidence of quality improvement for individual physician report cards comparing quality performance and efficiency to their peers.

To be eligible for the HAP stipend, physicians can submit information either through ABIM or directly to HAP. On a voluntary basis, physicians can authorize ABIM to send information about completed PIMs to HAP for use in quality recognition programs—providing access to incentives without the administrative burden traditionally involved with reporting quality measures.

For more information, or to determine eligibility, physicians may contact HAP Provider Relations at (313) 664-8075 or (800) 688-0040.

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About ABIM
The American Board of Internal Medicine is an independent, not-for-profit organization that sets the standards and grants board certification—a well accepted marker of physician quality—to internists and subspecialists. Certification is a rigorous, comprehensive program for evaluating physician knowledge, skills and attitudes to assure both patients and payers that a physician has achieved competence for practice in a given field. Individual physician certification results may be found at www.abim.org.

About HAP
Health Alliance Plan is a nonprofit health plan based in Detroit with more than 560,000 members. A subsidiary of the Henry Ford Health System, HAP serves companies of all sizes - from large national groups to small groups - through an expansive product portfolio including: HMOs, PPOs, Medicare Advantage HMO and PPO plans with prescription drug coverage, experience-rated and fully insured products, and HSA-compatible high-deductible health plans with online consumer tools. Leased provider network services are available through HAP’s subsidiary, HAP Preferred. The National Committee for Quality Assurance awarded HAP’s commercial HMO Excellent Accreditation.

Contacts:

Susan Schwandt, APR
248-443-1076
sschwan1@hap.org

Elizabeth Manasse, APR
248-443-1072
emanasse@hap.org