Have you gotten your report card yet?

Report Cards

It is becoming increasingly clear that physicians and HCOs of the future will be evaluated on their performance of specific core measure sets. The ORYX measures that your hospital is evaluated on can also be applied to the individual practitioner. All the UM folks have to do is drill down into the data and separate it based on the provider.

Many physicians feel that this is unfair and that their patient populations have unique characteristics that don't easily fit the mold of standardized performance measure sets. As a matter of fact, physicians now have to be proactive in their documentation as to why their patient's did not receive a specific treatment. If their patient has heart failure and can't tolerate an ACE inhibitor due to hyperkalemia, then this must be noted in the medical record.

Whether we like it or not, performance measures are here to stay, and will most likely become more extensive. How are we as hospitalists to respond? Obviously we have to embrace the concept at some point, continually seek feedback from UM on our performance, and create systems of care which will lead to success.