Physician Ranking Systems Going Mainstream With National Focus

Implications: Doctor Rating systems are here to stay and will play a greater role in contracting and patient decision making. Those that seek to disbelieve or dismiss these efforts may find themselves on the wrong end of this debate.  Even physician groups such as the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Cardiology are now supportive. There are some provider types that can benefit from this due to their operations and systems.

Analysis: Ultimately there are variations in provider practice and skill set.  These variations can be measured and now large employers as well as physician groups and other advocacy groups are coming together to develop these ranking systems.  While physicians may not enjoy the prospects of being scored or getting a "star" rating, it is here and will only expand and have a greater impact on medical decision making going forward.

There is widespread support from payers and others for this; as the article states 


"The effort is backed by some of the largest U.S. health insurers, employers, patient groups and physician organizations, including Aetna Inc., UnitedHealthcare, Cigna Corp., General Electric Co., General Motors Corp., AARP and the AFL-CIO. Several physician groups, including the American College of Surgeons and the American College of Cardiologists, also support the initiative."


Look for these systems to ultimately be tied to:
 
1) Decisions on whether or not to contract with a particular provider or group

2) Reimbursement to the provider in some form or fashion. This may actually assist and hasten contracting with and the use of retail clinics (MinuteClinic, Solantic, RediClinic, etc.) as well as the clinics on the worksite (IMC, etc) and other providers that have established electronic systems for medical records and are already measuring their outcomes data around treatment.

3) Patient co-pays or out of pocket expenses based upon the patients selection of a provider and their rating.

Companies that assist providers in measuring their performance and developing processesand electronic medical records to improve practice patterns will also benefit from this.