We want to recognize offices that have demonstrated a dedication to 
high-quality patient care by achieving the highest rank in quality of care for 
the HMO and/or PPO component of the Quality Incentive Payment System (QIPS) 
program, the Preventive and Quality Improvement Program (PQIP), or the Primary 
Care Advancement Model (PCAM) for measurement year 2018. The quality program is 
a comprehensive ranking system of quality measures for primary care offices 
with 150 or more commercial HMO/POS and Medicare Advantage HMO members and/or 
250 or more attributed commercial PPO members (including National 
BlueCard® PPO and Personal Choice® PPO 
members).
The programs’ ranking system is based on the Healthcare Effectiveness 
Data and Information Set (HEDIS®), a well-established and tested 
set of performance measures. The preventive health measures listed below are 
used as the baseline for measuring a provider's overall quality performance in 
comparison to their peers of the same specialty type:
- childhood and adolescent immunizations;
- childhood and adolescent well visits;
- cancer prevention (screenings for breast, cervical, and colorectal 
cancers);
- heart care (beta-blocker treatment after a heart attack);
- asthma care (use of preferred medications for patients with chronic 
persistent asthma);
- diabetic care (HbA1c control, eye exam rates, and nephropathy 
screening);
- appropriate testing for children with pharyngitis;
- avoidance of antibiotic treatment in adults with acute bronchitis;
- appropriate treatment for children with upper respiratory infection;
- rheumatoid arthritis care (disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug 
therapy);
- fracture care (osteoporosis management in women);
- statin therapy (patients with cardiovascular disease or diabetes).
Congratulations to these primary care offices for 
demonstrating overall high quality in these measures and for achieving the 
highest rank in quality of care in 2019 (based on 2018 data) for the QIPS 
program, PQIP, or PCAM.
HEDIS is a registered trademark of the National Committee 
for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Used with permission.