PBGH, California Insurers Team Up on Transparency Initiative Backed by Medicare

In a California Healthline Special Report, Cathie Markow — manager of the California Cooperative Healthcare Reporting Initiative — discussed her group’s recent contract with the federal government to track physician performance, the largest such project in the U.S.

CCHRI, a unit of the Pacific Business Group on Health, will use data from Medicare and private insurers in California to score providers’ performance.

Markow said CCHRI is pursuing funding for a broader transparency effort that would incorporate efficiency measures — possibly culling data from Medicare managed care plans or Medicaid.

The California Healthline Special Report also includes comments from:

• Joe Parker, director of the health care outcome center at the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development; and
• Gifford Boyce-Smith, senior medical director for quality at Blue Shield of California (Rebillot, California Healthline, 4/10).