The UCLA Medical Group was recently recognized by both the California Association of Physician Groups and the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its outstanding patient-centered care and medical care management.
The California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG), the nation's largest professional association representing physician groups practicing managed care, presented the UCLA Medical Group with its "Elite" Standards of Excellence award, one of only 30 given to medical groups throughout the state. To achieve "elite" status, the UCLA Medical Group surpassed thresholds in each of four scoring areas that assess how coordinated health care organizations bring value in quality and affordability to both individual patients and large populations.
The CAPG's four Standards of Excellence scoring areas include care management, health information technology, accountability and transparency, and patient-centered care. A total of 73 medical groups participated in the voluntary survey. Groups that surpass a recognition threshold, determined annually by a peer group of medical directors, earn a "star" for each area. For more information, visit www.capg.org.
"UCLA takes its responsibility to all Californians seriously, pioneering, testing and improving ways to not only care for people but to enable people to care for themselves and their families," said Dr. Wells Shoemaker, medical director of the CAPG. "The 'elite' distinction for UCLA's medical group from CAPG's Standards of Excellence has become an annual event, but what lies underneath is perhaps more important. With both humility and curiosity, UCLA's professionals are energetically helping all other doctors rise to meet the expectations of health care reform."
The National Committee for Quality Assurance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality, has awarded the UCLA Medical Group its two-year Certification in Credentialing and Recredentialing. The UCLA Medical Group has been awarded this distinction five times and was notified this year that it received a score of 100 percent. This award signifies that UCLA Medical Group has demonstrated its ability to apply rigorous standards to its evaluation of physicians.
NCQA certification programs are designed to help health plans and employers make informed decisions when choosing their business partners. Certification involves a voluntary review process and a nationally recognized evaluation, which managed care organizations and purchasers of health care use to assess physician organizations. An organization must meet rigorous standards to achieve NCQA certification. For additional information about the NCQA, visit www.ncqa.org/reportcards.aspx.
"All of us at UCLA are proud of these achievements that reflect our ongoing commitment to provide to highest level of integrated and accountable patient centered care to our communities," said Dr. Samuel A. Skootsky, chief medical officer of the UCLA Faculty Practice Group and Medical Group
The UCLA Medical Group comprises more than 1,200 physicians who are clinical faculty members at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. They provide primary and specialty medical care at over 100 ambulatory locations as well as at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital, UCLA Medical Center-Santa Monica and the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA.
