Most Popular Stories
- Study: Not all EHR users intend to attest to MU; private payers can help
- Meaningful Use spurs increased use of handheld devices
- Costly technology gaps limit EHRs
- Study: Patients like EHRs, still worry about their security
- Survey: Health insurance industry has worst customer service
- BYOD winning the mobility wars, forcing hospitals to expand networks
Featured Jobs
- Electronic Health Records Application Support Manager RN-New Year New Career
Avanti on behalf of Respected Health System - San Francisco, CA
Events
- IHI's Transforming the Primary Care Practice
May 1-3, 2012 — San Diego, CA - Complimentary Webinar: Making Public Data Work for You
March 1, 2012 11am - iHT2 Health IT Summit
March 27-28 — San Francisco, CA - IHI Triple Aim Seminar
April 11-12, 2012 — San Diego, CA
Paid Research Reports
-
Electronic health records: getting it right first time
-
Cloud Computing Adoption In The APAC Life Sciences Industry
-
Stakeholder Opinions: Ophthalmology - Leading brands under threat
-
Genomics, Proteomics and Metabolomics in Diagnostics: Market landscape, innovative technologies and future outlook
-
Healthcare Regulatory Update: The United Arab Emirates
-
Point of Care Testing: Evaluating the return to evidence based medicine, novel technologies and the competitive landscape
Free Newsletter
Free Newsletter
FierceHealthPayer provides the latest news about the fast-changing and heavily regulated area of healthcare reimbursement. Join 16,000 healthcare plan executives who get FierceHealthPayer via twice weekly email. Sign up today!
Top Tags
Doctors sue Blue Shield over ratings system
The California Medical Association is suing Blue Shield of California over an online physician rating system it alleges is inaccurate and could harm doctors' reputations, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
The medical association's class action lawsuit seeks a court order to stop the program which began on June 1 and tell the public of its shortcomings. CMA alleges that ratings do not take into consideration information from patient medical charts, patient outcomes and previous treatment, because the program draws from only a few years of claims data from five insurance products sold by three large health plans, Blue Shield of California, Anthem Blue Cross and UnitedHealthCare, reports the Los Angeles Times.
The Blue Ribbon Recognition Program purportedly posts blue ribbons next to names of physicians on its website who have met certain standards of care, the Times reports. It recognizes doctors who scored above average in up to eight measures in preventive screening, diabetes and other categories, according to the Sacramento Business Journal.
The suit says Blue Shield steers patients to cheaper doctors and fails to give doctors an opportunity to correct errors in ratings.
Blue Shield officials defended the ratings program, saying their website offers a disclaimer that the ratings are just one measure of physician quality. Dr. Michael-Anne Browne, Blue Shields Medical Director for Quality told the Times that no cost data is used to create the ratings.
And physicians were given ample opportunity to review, and if necessary, submit corrections to their reports, Johnny Wong, spokesman with Blue Shield of California told FierceHealthPayer.
Blue Shield developed the system with the Pacific Business Group on Health, a coalition of 50 purchasers that participates in the California Healthcare Reporting Initiative, a collaborative of purchasers, consumers, health plans and doctors.
To learn more:
- read the Sacramento Business Journal article
- here's the Los Angeles Times article
Related Stories:
Study: Patients don't typically use online ratings
Doctors bar patients from posting bad reviews online
Doctors slam Blue Shield's physician rating system: 'Serious and disturbing flaws'
Home | Subscribe | Advertise | Mobile Edition | RSS | Privacy | Site Map | EditorsTHE FIERCEMARKETS NETWORKFierceEnergy | FierceSmartGrid | FierceFinance | FierceFinanceIT | FierceComplianceIT | FierceHealthcare | FierceHealthFinance | FierceHealthIT | Hospital Impact | FierceMobileHealthcare | FierceHealthPayer | FiercePracticeManagement | FierceEMR | FierceCIO | FierceCIO:TechWatch | FierceContentManagement | FierceMobileIT | FierceGovernmentIT | FierceGovernment | FierceHomelandSecurity | FierceBiotech | FierceBiotech Research | FiercePharma | FierceVaccines | FierceBiotechIT | FiercePharma Manufacturing | FierceMedicalDevices | FierceDrugDelivery | FierceCRO | FierceIPTV | FierceOnlineVideo | FierceTelecom | FierceEnterpriseCommunications | FierceBroadbandWireless | FierceDeveloper | FierceMobileContent | FierceWireless | FierceWireless:Europe | FierceCable© 2012 FierceMarkets. All rights reserved. |