PacifiCare PAMF is State's Top-Ranked Medical Group -- Again
October 2003
For the second year in a row, PAMF has received top scores in the state of California for quality medical care in a survey conducted by PacifiCare, a major provider of health care plans in California.
PAMF earned an overall score of 99 (out of 100) at its facilities in Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties and tied with one other medical group (Beaver Medical Group in Southern California) for best in the state.
According to PacifiCare, "the QUALITY INDEX® profile provides consumers with an effective tool to help make more informed health care decisions." The profile measures medical groups' performance in clinical and service quality, affordability and administrative accuracy. (To view the report, see www.pacificare.com.)
Those groups that perform at or above the 90th percentile on any of the 28 measures for clinical and service quality and accountability earn "Best Practice" status for that measure. PAMF earned this designation in 14 categories and scored particularly well in preventive care and patient satisfaction.
PAMF is also participating in a larger report on quality that involves six major health plans. "There's been a mushrooming of interest both within and outside of PAMF to have this kind of reporting," said Laurel Trujillo, M.D., medical director for clinical innovation at PAMF.
As part of this public reporting initiative, PAMF will produce its own data for measuring quality in 2004, adding to the data bank collected by health plans. "This will allow us to measure quality in a way that is more representative of how we care for our patients, and it will account for a larger segment of our patients, rather than patients enrolled in one particular health plan," Dr. Trujillo said.
"We are extremely gratified by this year's results of the PacifiCare survey," David Druker, M.D., PAMF president and CEO, said. "We have made a great effort to improve continually our services, particularly with respect to improving patients' access to care through our Advanced Access program.
"The high satisfaction scores we have received are an indication of our progress, and of our dedication to creating the best possible health care experience for our patients," he said.
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