ACP: Governmental Affairs and Public Policy - ACP Recommendations on the Doctors Office Quality-IT Demonstration

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ACP Recommendations on the Doctors Office Quality-IT Demonstration

Recommendations to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services On Design and Implementation Of the Doctors Office Quality-Information Technology Demonstration Program Under Section 649 of the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003

June 23, 2004

1. ACP is eager to work with CMS in any way possible to ensure that DOQ-IT has meaningful results, which could be adopted nationally, demonstrating the value of incentivizing IT adoption and use of an online, real-time clinical decision support tool such as PIER to optimize patient quality of care, and provide a basis for measuring and paying for physician performance.

2. ACP encourages CMS to pilot test and share the aggregate results of its physician performance metrics (not individual physician data) with interested stakeholders such as ACP before the DOQ-IT metrics are utilized beyond the original four DOQ-IT demonstration States.

3. ACP would like to work with CMS and its QIO contractors on defining the information technology and physician office design solutions beyond electronic health records that will be offered to physicians participating in the DOQ-IT demonstration.

4. ACP plans to explore partnering with organizations interested in contracting with CMS to offer the Physicians' Information and Education Resource (PIER)-ACP's point-of-care, Web-based decision-support tool. PIER contains more than 300 modules and is also available in a PDA format. The modules provide evidence-based clinical guidance and information on more than 235 diseases and conditions, as well as on ethical and legal issues, complementary and alternative medicine, screening and prevention, and procedures.

5. ACP would also like to work with CMS on defining the financial incentives and technology investment incentives CMS will offer to physicians participating in the DOQ-IT demonstration.

6. ACP plans to explore with its state chapters the possibility of increasing the level of ACP chapter participation with local Medicare Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) in the DOQ-IT project.