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At the April meeting of the board of directors, new policy was adopted on Pay-for-Performance, mirroring that of the American Medical Association and reading as follows:
(1) Physicians who are involved in the design or implementation of PFP programs should advocate for:
(a) incentives that are intended to promote health care quality and patient safety, and are not primarily intended to contain costs;
(b) program flexibility that allows physicians to accommodate the varying needs of individual patients;
(c) adjustment of performance measures by risk and case-mix in order to avoid discouraging the treatment of high-risk individuals and populations;
(d) processes to make practice guidelines and explanations of their intended purposes and the clinical findings upon which they are based available to participating physicians;
(2) Practicing physicians who participate in PFP programs while providing medical services to patients should:
(a) maintain primary responsibility to their patients and provide competent medical care, regardless of financial incentives;
(b) support access to care for all people and avoid selectively treating healthier patients for the purpose of bolstering their individual or group performance outcomes;
(c) be aware of evidence-based practice guidelines and the finding upon which they are based.
As pay for performance programs begin to impact physician practices, the AMC/NOMA plans to collect information or concerns from our members relative to these matters. If you have comments or input on the policy; please send them to
ebiddlestone@amcnoma.org .
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