Several leading physician organizations have joined in a first-ever partnership to help physicians improve the care they deliver to patients, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMSR) Research and Education Foundation recently announced. The partnership, which includes the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Board of Family Medicine, the American Board of Internal Medicine, and the American Board of Pediatrics, is launching Improving Performance in Practice (IPIP), a pilot program giving doctors the tools, systems and support they need to provide consistently high quality care and improve patient health. The IPIP program is funded by two grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
IPIP will focus on closing the gap between the care patients receive and recommended care. The RAND Corporation has reported that patients receive only 55 percent of recommended care, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or income. Physicians participating in IPIP will use performance measures to determine whether patients with conditions such as diabetes and asthma are actually getting the recommended care they need. Initially, 100 physicians in Colorado and North Carolina will pilot IPIP, and lessons learned will be shared across practices to increase knowledge and more rapidly spread effective changes.
