Article available in 'Physician's News Digest' October 25, 2006 eNewsletter.

Physician's News Digest

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PND NEWS BRIEFS - WESTERN PA EDITION
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A daily round-up of local and national medical news
October 25, 2006

Highmark Inc. is coordinating its QualityBlue physician pay-for-performance program with programs from the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

Effective immediately, the insurer will give physicians credit towards the best practice component of its pay-for-performance program if they participate in either the ABIM’s Maintenance of Certification Practice Improvement Modules (PIMs), AAFP’s METRIC modules or the NCQA Physician Recognition Programs. Under QualityBlue, physician practices receive points towards their quality scores by participating in a best practice initiative, beyond the clinical quality measures included in Highmark’s program, while physician practices must meet certain eligibility requirements and a minimum quality score to participate in the QualityBlue program.
Highmark Inc., October 24, 2006

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