CBGH Recognizes 366 Colorado Doctors for Providing Patients with Quality Care

Research finds participating physicians have better patient outcomes and cost less

DENVER, March 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- The non-profit Colorado Business Group on Health (CBGH) released its annual resource for Colorado consumers and employers highlighting doctors providing quality care for treatment of diabetes and cardiac disease. This year 366 doctors statewide have achieved Recognition through Bridges to Excellence (BTE), a physician incentive program that rewards doctors who provide top quality care for patients. The full list of Recognized doctors as well as consumer information on obesity, disease management, and health tips is available in the Colorado Health Matters Quality Report: Physicians.

CBGH participates in two BTE Awards Programs – the Diabetes Care Link and the Cardiac Care Link. As of the end of 2011, of the 366 doctors (up from 267 for 2010-2011) throughout the state that have achieved BTE Recognition, 133 have achieved Recognition for both diabetes and cardiac care, 195 for diabetes alone, and 33 for cardiac care alone.

Research indicates lower costs due to higher quality care
New this year are the results of research comparing the performance of BTE Diabetes Recognized physicians with non-recognized doctors. CBGH found that Diabetes Recognized physicians had lower average costs because their patients were less likely to need emergency room services or be admitted to the hospital in general for diabetes related complications. For this study, CBGH ran two years of Colorado medical claims data for national health plans that cover the state through the PROMETHEUS Payment® Evidence-informed Case Rates Analytics tool.

"It's no surprise that in medicine, as in other fields, providers perform better for conditions on which they are measured," said Donna Marshall, CBGH executive director. "We applaud the efforts of these physicians who voluntarily attain cardiac and diabetes Recognition, and know patients will benefit from top quality management of their condition."

Through the efforts of the Colorado Business Group on Health, CBGH employer members and health plans are participating in BTE, a program of the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute, and pay Recognized physicians an additional bonus for attaining recognition status. In order to qualify to be Recognized, physicians must demonstrate that their quality of care for diabetes or cardiac patients exceeds certain national standards for screening and control.

"As a physician, getting people motivated to change their behaviors is often a challenge," said Kenneth Hahn, DO, Arbor Family Medicine, BTE Recognized for both diabetes and cardiac care. "Change is difficult for a multitude of reasons. However, even short term achievements can have a positive impact on health, which grows as patients continue those behaviors long term. I encourage patients to think about their fight against obesity like they do about their retire­ment savings. The investment, sacrifice and hard work now will pay off down the road."

About the Colorado Business Group on Health
CBGH is a non-profit coalition representing large purchasers of health care services and more than 300,000 covered lives in Colorado. Since 1996, CBGH has worked on initiatives designed to restructure health care delivery and improve quality. CBGH's mission is to advance the purchaser role to accelerate cost effective, high quality health care. For additional information visit: www.coloradohealthonline.org.

SOURCE Colorado Business Group on Health