The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has recognized 60 primary care practices with the title of "Distinction" for their commitment to engaging patients.
The practices, all patient-centered medical homes (PCMH), submitted Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey results to NCQA.Under the voluntary Distinction initiative, participating PCMH practices use the CAHPS survey to capture patient and family feedback. Doing so demonstrates the practices' commitment to engaging their patients, and it also facilitates eventually using the results to track improvement and compare performance, according to NCQA officials.
"NCQA CAHPS Distinction means a practice excels at listening to patients – a key to high-quality, twenty-first century primary care," said Margaret O'Kane, president, NCQA. "I commend these practices for taking great interest in their patients and for laying the groundwork to track quality improvement."
Two organizations sponsored the CAHPS Distinction practices: Taconic IPA and the Rhode Island Quality Institute.
"We are pleased – but not surprised – that these practices have achieved this NCQA honor," says Annette C. Watson, senior vice president of Community Transformation for Taconic IPA and immediate past chair of the Commission for Case Manager Certification. "Taconic IPA has long been focused on creating a culture focused on patient-centered care and believes that with the proper support, transformation is possible for organizations of any size."
Laura Adams, president and CEO of the Rhode Island Quality Institute said the Institute sponsored the CAHPS survey because of the strong promise that quality measurement has for improving the quality of healthcare. "Practices submitting their survey results contribute to an invaluable baseline for measuring patient experience in PCMHs," she said. "The survey allows the medical team to engage patients in quality improvement and helps ensure that the voice of the patient is at the center of the medical home."
Practices that earn Distinction will be listed in NCQA's Recognition Directory for their achievement. They will also receive credit for a component of NCQA's latest PCMH recognition program, PCMH 2011. Interested practices can obtain more information here.