AMGA honors Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group with Acclaim Award

Kaiser PermanenteNov 6 2013

Award honors top medical groups in the nation

The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group is the Honoree the American Medical Group Association's (AMGA) Acclaim Award.

According to the AMGA, the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, or MAPMG, set ambitious goals to deliver more value to patients than any other health system and to become the national model for healthcare quality, service, and efficiency.

"Our colleagues in MAPMG developed and articulated a clear, inspiring vision and set bold goals that always keep the patient at the center," said Kim Horn, president, Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic States.

Kaiser Permanente has made critical investments in people, data and technology, and facilities. As a result of these efforts, the Kaiser Permanente currently is:

• Ranked first in its region and 16th in the nation per National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Health Insurance Plan Rankings;
• Rated by NCQA as #1 in the nation for Breast Cancer Screening, Childhood Immunizations Combo 4, Childhood Immunization Hepatitis A, Comprehensive Diabetes Care Nephropathy, and Comprehensive Diabetes care Eye Exams;
• Outpacing all local competitors on HEDIS Effectives of Care measures in the 90th percentile (see chart);
• The highest performing organization in its region on Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey questions such as "Personal Doctor Rating" and "Specialist Rating"

Leading MAPMG is Bernadette Loftus, MD, Associate Executive Director, The Permanente Medical Group. Dr. Loftus is responsible for the health care of 500,000 Kaiser Permanente members in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC.

"Receiving this prestigious award is a tribute to the physicians and staff of The Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group," said Dr. Loftus.  "In addition, it is recognition of the power of physician-led multi-specialty group practice. When physicians across specialties work together, using advanced information technology to achieve superior quality outcomes and personalized service for patients, the results are exceptional.  If every person in the United States received care in this way, tens of thousands of lives could be saved annually."

The Permanente Medical Group, based in Northern California, was also honored by AMGA with the Acclaim Award for "Transforming Health Care through Leadership and Technology," an innovative initiative that achieves superior performance through physician leadership, advanced information technology, and a mission-driven culture of collaboration.

The Acclaim Awards, granted through AMGA's philanthropic arm, the American Medical Group Foundation, honors organizations that are meeting the Institute of Medicine Aims for Improvement and are taking the necessary steps to become a high-performing health system as defined by AMGA.

"While we are pleased with how far – and how quickly – we have come, we are still moving at a rapid pace toward our goal of being ranked number 1 in the nation," said Dr. Loftus. "Ours is not a static organization; we do not settle or stop once we have reached a milestone or a target. We continue to focus on improvement and embrace innovation. For our patients, we must be the best."