Indiana Health Information Exchange's quality program grows

The Indiana Health Information Exchange (IHIE) announced that its Quality Health First Program has enrolled more than 1,500 physicians in more than 50 communities throughout Indiana to help improve screenings rates and to support the management of medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, asthma and breast cancer for nearly 1 million patients.

Patients needing these and other interventions are flagged in reports to their primary care physician, enabling the physician to make care decisions before, during and after patient visits. Participation is open to any primary care practice in Indiana, regardless of its size or number of physicians, and is not restrictive to practices that do not use electronic health records.

The reports are based on more than 3 billion pieces of clinical information, along with claims information. The program allows physicians to review and verify the data, and to reconcile missing or inaccurate data.

For care provided in 2009, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield of Indiana awarded bonus payments totaling $3.4 million to participating primary care physicians in Indiana based on improvements in overall patient health. The amount of bonus payments from Anthem for care delivered by participating physicians in 2010 is expected to exceed that amount.

In addition to Anthem, United Healthcare and Unified Group Services, Medicare and Medicaid all participate in the program.