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As reported in the March issue of the KMA Communicator, the Quality Measurement and Improvement Committee, chaired by Greg Cooper, MD, sent a letter to Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield regarding concerns about a new Anthem online survey tool, developed in association with Zagat, designed to look at a patient’s care experience based on trust, communication, availability and office environment. KMA expressed a number of concerns with the Anthem-Zagat program, including statistical significance, provider access, and the overall benefit of the tool. The KMA received a response from Anthem on April 7, 2008, addressing these concerns. Following is the response on some of KMA’s concerns: Statistical significance: “The minimum [number of patients with completed assessments] is ten before it is viewable by our members, but it would be valuable information to know the number of assessments that the analysis is based upon. I have passed this suggestion on to the development staff.” Provider access: “I also agree that physicians should have access to Zagat references to their practice. We will initially provide this information by mail as we develop a separate physician online view.” Overall benefit of the tool: “The tool is part of a suite of transparency tools for our members. It is just one view, with others planned or launched for professional quality, procedure costs by facility and physician cost efficiency. We carefully note to our members that cost and member satisfaction analysis should not be confused with clinical quality.” Click here to view the entire response from Anthem.
Kentucky
Medical Association
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