Kaiser Permanente Wins
Top National Disease Management Award
The
Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) has awarded Kaiser
Permanente (KP) the American Healthways Health Plan Disease Management
Leadership Award, the most sought-after award for managed care organizations.
This award recognizes a health plan that has demonstrated leadership
and innovation in disease management on a level that has significantly
helped to shape the industry.
According
to Warren Todd, DMAA Executive Director, "The Awards committee
unanimously recognized Kaiser Permanente's Care Management Institute
as a program that has raised the standard of excellence across the
country through the integration of physician and nonclinical staff
collaboration driven by evidence-based guidelines to develop an outcomes-oriented
program that continues to improve the lives of patients with heart
disease and diabetes."
The
award is given for innovation, leadership, outcomes-based orientation,
and impact in the industry.
KP Wins Top Ratings
in NCQA Report
Six
Kaiser Permanente Regions were awarded top rankings in the 2003 State
of Health Care Quality report, released by the National Committee
for Quality Assurance (NCQA). An independent, nonprofit organization
that measures the quality of the nation's health care, NCQA accredits
health plans and serves as a resource for purchasers, regulators,
and consumers.
In the
report, KP Colorado ranked among the top ten health plans in the nation
in effectiveness of care and was ranked among the top five health
plans in the Mountain Region. KP also dominated the Pacific Region's
top five with KP's Northern California, Southern California, Northwest,
and Hawaii Regions in the rankings. KP Georgia was among the top five
in the Southern Atlantic Region.
The
State of Health Care Quality report is based on an analysis
of health plan performance measures from NCQA's Quality Compass 2003,
a database of performance information from several hundred organizations
providing health care coverage to more than 71 million Americans.
Out of approximately 500 health plans in the country, about 260 let
the public know their quality data. All data are independently audited.
Paul Wallace, MD |
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HHS Secretary Appoints
Care Management Institute Executive Director to Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality National Advisory Council
Health
and Human Services Secretary Tommy G Thompson recently named nine
new members to the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare
Research and Quality (AHRQ). One of the newly named members is Paul
Wallace, MD, Executive Director of the Care Management Institute.
The council is comprised of 21 members from the private sector and
8 ex-officio members from other federal health agencies.
"These
nine new members will bring a wide range of experience and provide
the right balance to advise AHRQ on its policy direction and research
portfolio," Secretary Thompson said. "Their leadership will
continue to help the agency achieve our goal of providing safe, high-quality
health care for all Americans."
The
other eight new council members are:
- Andrew
Balas, MD, PhD, Dean, School of Public Health, St. Louis University,
St Louis, MO.
- Doug
Campos-Outcalt, MPA, Medical Director, Maricopa County Department
of Public Health, Phoenix, AZ.
- Michael
Everett, PhD, Founder and CEO, Avatar International, Inc, Lake Mary,
FL.
- Andrew
Fishman, MD, Cogent Healthcare, Inc, Los Angeles, CA.
- Arthur
Garson, MD, MPH, Dean, School of Medicine, University of Virginia,
Charlottesville, VA.
- Jessie
Gruman, PhD, President and Executive Director, Center for the Advancement
of Health, Washington, DC.
- Terry
Jacobson, MD, Director, Office of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention,
Grady Health Systems, Atlanta, GA.
- James
J Rohack, MD, Senior Staff Cardiologist, Scott and White Clinic,
Temple, TX.
Mid-Atlantic
Permanente Medical Group (MAPMG)
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Ruth A Robinson, MD
Carol Samuel-Botts, MD
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Governor Ehrlich Appoints
MAPMG
Physicians to State Board of Physicians
Maryland
Governor Robert L Ehrlich, Jr, recently appointed 2 KP physicians
to a newly formed 21-member State Board of Physicians. Ruth A Robinson,
MD, a family practice physician and Executive Director of the Annapolis
Medical Center, and Carol Samuel-Botts, MD, a pediatrician at the
Largo Medical Center, were among more than 100 physicians who applied
for consideration. The State Board of Physicians tests and licenses
physicians to practice medicine in Maryland. The Board also determines
the eligibility of physicians to represent themselves as specialists.
For certain causes, the Board may revoke the license of any physician.
Governor
Ehrlich also appointed a Kaiser Permanente pharmacist to a three-year
term as a member of the Maryland Medicaid Pharmacy and Therapeutics
Committee for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Donald
Yee, Supervisor of Pharmacy Hospitalists at the Reston Medical Center,
is also currently serving his second four-year term as Commissioner
on the Maryland State Board of Pharmacy.
Southern
California Permanente Medical Group (SCPMG)
San Diego Magazine Highlights
San Diego Doctors Selected by Colleagues as "The Best"
This
month's edition of San Diego Magazine highlighted San Diego
area physicians for being the best at what they do. Thirteen SCPMG
physicians were among those selected. The list is based on the national
"Best Doctors" survey.
Each
year, Best Doctors Inc surveys approximately 30,000 physicians in
40 medical specialties across the country and asks them one very important
question: "If you or a loved one needed a doctor in your specialty
and you couldn't treat them yourself, to whom would you refer them?"
Only
doctors who have been selected previously for the list are eligible
to nominate new physicians. Once nominated, a physician is able to
comment (confidentially) on the other doctors listed in their specialty
and to make additional nominations. The survey avoids bias through
its large voting pool and through regional polling. This year, more
than 4000 physicians were polled in the San Diego region.
SCPMG
physicians selected by their peers as being "The Best" in
San Diego include: Noah Friedman, MD, Allergy; Sandra Christensen,
MD, Allergy; Michael Mellon, MD, Allergy; Michael Schatz, MD, Allergy;
James Dudl, MD, Endocrinology; Stephen Gordon, MD, Endocrinology;
Eric Blau, MD, Preventive Medicine; Charles Hamori, MD, Preventive
Medicine; Dale Lieu, MD, Infectious Disease; Jeffrey Stork, MD, Internal
Medicine; William Devor, MD, Neurology; Robert Clemons, MD, Pediatrics;
and Robert Hye, MD, General Surgery.
| Barbara
Caruso compiled this material from California Wire, Partner
News, and other PMG newsletters and sources. To submit news
of physician or PMG awards and recognitions, contact Ms Caruso
at barbara.caruso@kp.org. |
