Physician practices do not always realize the level of change necessary to successfully implement and use a pay-for-performance (P4P) program. Before you can see the benefits of P4P, you first have to weave through some obstacles and find new ways to approach quality performance.
One of the obstacles many physicians face when starting a P4P plan is changing the practice's perspective of clinical care to match set requirements. Consider these three steps to resolve this issue:
1. Restructure your practice. Meet with the front office staff and educate them about this program. Teaching staff members the measurements will help doctors achieve their performance. For example, staff members need to know which patients have diabetes in the office. They need to know what specialist to refer the patient to, and they must give clinical staff members the proper follow-up information for a particular patient.
2. Organize physician notes. Practices' patient information system need to be redesigned to show patients' demographics, such as weight, height, age, and medication documentation.
For example, group all the major diabetes medicines by blood pressure and cholesterol.
3. Implement a health maintenance profile. The profile could be a list of metrics for a diabetes patient, including dates for his or her flu shot, when he or she needs to see a specialist, and when the previous blood work appointment was made, for example. Be sure to update these regularly.
P4P can be complicated to understand and requires the practice and its physicians to change their perspectives of care in order to see rewards. Consider the following questions before diving into a commitment.
- Can this plan help with quality of care in my practice? Do the cost benefits add up in my favor? Am I ready to change?
- What conditions and protocols or procedures will I measure with this P4P program?
- Who will analyze the charts, data, and patient information to measure my performance accurately and according to the plan?
This article was adapted from one that originally ran in the August issue of The Doctor's Office, a HealthLeaders Media publication.