Bridges to Excellence Launches Medical Ho...(other BTE programs --Diabetes Care Link ...),Health

"For patients, a medical home can potentially be the difference between a series of episodic office visits and an ongoing two-way relationship with their physician," said National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) President Margaret E. O'Kane. "Patients whose doctors practice at a medical home typically experience better-coordinated care and are more engaged in their health. That's what we all want from our health care system."

Bridges to Excellence's POL was developed in collaboration with NCQA, a leading health care quality organization, in 2003 as a means to reward physicians that adopt good processes and systems of care, including adoption of electronic medical records. Today there are a number of ways for physicians to be recognized under BTE's POL program: complete NCQA's new version of its Physician Practice Connections program for patient-centered medical homes, complete the NCQA's standard version of the Physician Practice Connections, or complete the BTE Office Systems Survey co-developed with the Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) and is administered by QIOs such as MassPRO and IPRO.

"Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies are working to transform the traditional primary care doctor's office into a central point for Americans to organize and coordinate their health care and develop patient-centered medical home demonstration sites throughout the U.S.," said Allan Korn, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. "Initiatives such as the BTE Medical Home recognition may assist us in accomplishing our goals to impact patient health and costs and are an important step toward reengineering medical practices."

About Bridges to Excellence

Bridges to Excellence (BTE) is a non-profit coalition-based organization created to encourage significan
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