Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Announces Next Step to Improve Quality of Health Care.

Annual savings of $2.7 million per hospital

Total savings of $170 million per year throughout the state

In 2007, 64 hospitals earned a total of $104M through the Hospital Performance Incentive Program

BOSTON -- As part of its ongoing effort to raise the quality of health care in Massachusetts, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) yesterday announced a change to the current incentive plan for hospitals. The announcement, made at an event hosted by the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative and The New England Health Care Institute, outlined BCBSMA's decision to require hospitals to implement and utilize Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE). BCBSMA has decided to include the standards to be established by the MA CPOE Initiative as a threshold for participating in their quality and incentive programs after 2012.

"BCBSMA believes that the Massachusetts CPOE Initiative has made a compelling case for hospitals in Massachusetts to implement CPOE both from a quality and a financial perspective," said Robert Mandel, MD, Vice President of Health Care Services at BCBSMA. "This is the quality of health care that our members should expect - and it is the quality of health care they deserve."

BCBSMA's Primary Care Physician Incentive Plan and Hospital Quality Improvement Plan allow both providers and hospitals to participate in an incentive program that rewards them for meeting certain nationally-recognized quality standards and patient safety goals.

"Improving the quality of care will also help make health care more affordable," said Andrew Dreyfus, Executive Vice President of Health Care Services at BCBSMA. "The thirteen hospitals in Massachusetts that implemented CPOE have delivered positive results and BCBSMA applauds their achievements."

CPOE systems, which alert doctors when a medication order may pose a dosage, interaction, or allergy danger, provide health care professionals with broader access to patient information, dispense critical information that can improve patient safety, streamline workflow efficiency and improve overall patient care. It enhances providers' ability to collaborate with patient care networks and more efficiently and accurately share knowledge in all facets of healthcare. In addition to improving quality it also promises a significant return on investment through savings of both time and money. Twenty-six months after implementation of the system, the Massachusetts CPOE Initiative estimates an annual savings of $2.7 million per hospital, with a total savings of $170 million per year throughout the state.

Last month, BCBSMA announced a new provider payment system, one that would base payment on quality, outcomes, safety and efficiency. This Alternative Quality Contract is an option that combines two forms of payments: a global or fixed payment per patient, per year, adjusted for the health of patients: and substantial performance incentives tied to the latest nationally-accepted measures of quality, effectiveness and patient experience of care. This new contract is expected to improve quality and slow the growth of health care spending.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) was founded 71 years ago by a group of community-minded business leaders. Today, headquartered in Boston, BCBSMA provides coverage to three million members. BCBSMA believes in rewarding doctors and hospitals for delivering safe and effective care, and in empowering patients to take more responsibility, become educated health care consumers and become stronger partners with their doctors. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.