Massachusetts Employers and Health Plans Continue to Support Quality Care by Rewarding Physicians through Bridges to Excellenc...( More than 1 million consumers imp...),Health

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BOSTON, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Massachusetts employers and health plans have successfully completed a three-year pilot project and will continue to implement Bridges to Excellence (BTE) programs, the nation's largest effort to reward physicians for delivering high-quality care. BTE programs in Massachusetts have enabled more than 1,300 physicians to make significant improvements in their systems and processes, and as a result, they received over $2.4 million in financial rewards between 2004 and 2006. These improvements have a direct impact on the high quality health care delivered to patients.

AstraZeneca, GE, IBM, Raytheon, and Verizon pioneered the effort for the past three years, making an important investment towards improving health care delivered in the state. At the end of 2006, 13.4 percent of patients from the five employers were seeing recognized physicians, up from less than two percent when the programs began. All of these employers will continue to participate in BTE programs hereafter as a result of the positive outcomes in better care. EMC Corporation joined the effort in 2007. Health plans are playing a key administrative role in the transition from the pilot. Health plans include BlueCross BlueShield of Massachusetts, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, and most recently Fallon Community Health Plan.

"Bridges to Excellence complements EMC's employee health management philosophy, which is aimed at helping employees and family members manage their health and navigate through the health care environment," said Delia Vetter, Senior Director of Benefits for EMC Corporation and a BTE board member. "The BTE programs will enable us to recognize and reward quality health care in the communities where we have employees, and help us ensure that our employees and their families receive high-quality pa
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