An Indianapolis employers' healthcare coalition has prepared a list of 500 physicians it plans to invite to participate in a peer-review quality improvement process that could provide pay bonuses to physicians who meet standards of excellence.
The alliance, a member of the National Business Coalition on Health, includes among its members the Indianapolis-area operations of General Motors Corp., Herff Jones, the Indiana state government and six other employers. Among the proposals being considered are paying physicians directly for disease management efforts and paying for performance based on peer-review quality assessments. Local physicians would analyze 10 to 20 patient cases per physician, on a voluntary basis. The rewards would be both on the front end, with higher payments for patient care, and on the back end, with physicians sharing in the savings employers enjoy from lower costs because of a higher quality of care. Bonus levels haven't been determined.
Physicians who pass the screenings will be publicly disclosed, probably in a coalition directory, and rewarded, but those who fail won't be held up for public exposure. About 20 physicians have been invited to a meeting April 6 and will be able to offer comment.
