UCLA earns elite ranking on survey of state physician groups' patient-care capabilities

The UCLA Medical Group has earned a four-star ranking, the highest achievement possible, in the California Association of Physician Groups' (CAPG) seventh annual Standards of Excellence survey(Link is external).

 

The survey is a voluntary, critical self-assessment for the CAPG's 150 medical group members in California. It tallies the "tools" required for health care systems to deliver a better patient experience, better population health and better affordability, as outlined in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim(Link is external) initiative.

 

This year, 36 organizations achieved elite status, which involved intense testing and documentation.

 

"The UCLA Medical Group is honored to receive this important recognition and we are very proud of our four-star rating," said Dr. Samuel A. Skootsky, chief medical officer of the UCLA Faculty Practice and Medical Group. "Participation in this survey has encouraged us to continually improve upon our capabilities in care coordination and case management to the benefit of the patients we serve — and to demonstrate our commitment to healing humankind one patient at a time."

 

"The architects of health care reform have set the bar not merely to get by but to far surpass all expectations for truly coordinated patient care," said Dr. Wells Shoemaker, CAPG's medical director. "We know from the experience of our member groups that it takes determined leadership, synchronized initiatives across hundreds of physicians, and leading-edge tech tools to honor the individual patient experience, improve the health of populations, and hone the efficiency of our country's health care system.

 

The Standards of Excellence survey assesses medical groups' practices in four key domains:

 

Providing timely, safe, effective, efficient care and constantly working to improve care.

 

Technical tools required to support care management practices, as well as individual care coordination, population awareness, performance measurement and feedback.

 

Responding to the demands of the people the medical groups serve.

 

Developing and maintaining a high-quality service culture in the nation's most diverse state.

 

"CAPG's Standards of Excellence documents precisely those features," Shoemaker said." Organizations that excel in the survey's four key domains join a truly elite category of pioneering health care organizations."

 

The California Association of Physician Groups(Link is external) represents 150 groups that employ or contract with nearly 60,000 California doctors and provide care to 18 million Californians.  CAPG is committed to improving healthcare for Californians and supports a progressive and organized system of healthcare delivery, which focuses on coordinated treatment plans and comprehensive coverage, including the most current preventive services and exams.  This allows physicians to focus on illness prevention and proactive management of patients in order to maintain their optimum level of health.

 

The UCLA Health System(Link is external), which comprises the UCLA Hospital System and the UCLA Medical Group and its affiliates, has provided a high quality of health care and the most advanced treatment options to the people of Los Angeles and the world for more than half a century. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, and UCLA Health - Santa Monica Medical Center (which includes the Los Angeles Orthopaedic Hospital) deliver hospital care that is unparalleled in California. Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center is consistently ranked one of the top five hospitals in the nation and the best in the western United States by U.S. News & World Report. UCLA physicians and hospitals continue to be world leaders in the full range of care, from maintaining the health of families to the diagnosis and treatment of complex illnesses.