Update: Physician Group Practices Taking Part in Medicare Demo Provide Better Diabetes Care
<p>This week, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that, after one year, all 10 of the practices in the Physician Group Practice Demonstration have improved diabetes care for their patients. The demonstration program rewards practices by enabling them to share in the savings generated through better managing the care of Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions. In the first year, bonuses were awarded to two of the sites: Marshfield Clinic and University of Michigan Faculty Group Practice; as savings accumulate in the remaining years of the program, additional bonuses may be awarded.<br><br>In a related <a href="/publications/fund-reports/2006/dec/medicare-physician-group-practices--innovations-in-quality-and-efficiency
">Fund report</a>, Michael Trisolini, deputy director of the Health Care Quality and Outcomes Program at RTI International, and colleagues describe the experience during the first year of the demonstration. Participating practices have used the demonstration to expand data systems, care management programs, and coordination-of-care efforts--interventions that are not directly reimbursed under the current payment system, but can improve the quality of care and control costs.</p>