NEWS

Cabarrus Family Medicine Receives National Recognition for Using Best Practices in Patient Information Management

Physician Practice Connections standards encourage use of patient registries, electronic systems to measure quality and improve care

May 2, 2007 – The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) announced that Cabarrus Family Medicine at Concord has received Recognition from the Physician Practice Connections (PPC) Program for using information systems to measure practice-wide clinical quality and improve clinical outcomes at the point of care.

Physician Practice Connections recognizes those practices that use information systematically to improve the quality of patient care. Practices meeting program standards monitor for patients who need care, measure quality across their entire practice and ensure that abnormal test results receive follow-up. Such approaches have been shown to improve medical outcomes and to reduce errors. Numerous studies, including the Institute of Medicine’s Fostering Rapid Advances in Health, have called for the systematic use of health care information, including more widespread adoption of information technology such as electronic health records (EHRs).

"Good information at the point of care is crucial to delivering quality health care,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Physician Practice Connections identifies those doctors who make the most out of clinical information they have on hand to make better decisions and provide better follow-up. Patients notice and appreciate the improvements in care. The physicians at Cabarrus Family Medicine are to be commended for their achievement in earning Recognition.”

To receive Recognition, which is valid for three years, Cabarrus Family Medicine at Concord met key program measures in some or all of the following areas:

• Use of patient registries
• Partial or full use of electronic systems
• Provision of education resources in English and/or a second language
• Practice-wide quality measurement and improvement efforts
• Screening, referrals, and follow-up for at-risk patients
• Structured care for patients with chronic conditions

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA credits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report and their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.