Can We Tell Physicians Apart without Better Scorecards? December 2, 2009

Host: American Enterprise Institute. Improving the availability of accurate and actionable information about the comparative performance of physicians could assist efforts to upgrade the affordability and quality of U.S. health care. However, getting from theory to practice in achieving those objectives has remained quite challenging. This forum will examine several recent initiatives that hold promise for better performance. Robert Krughoff of Consumers’ Checkbook and the Center for the Study of Services will highlight the results of a three-city pilot project that surveyed consumers on their experience of care with individual physicians. Bruce Steinwald of the Government Accountability Office will describe how Medicare claims data can be used to profile the resource use of physicians and provide them with confidential feedback to improve the efficiency of the care they deliver. Thomas P. Miller of AEI will examine how the latest House and Senate health reform bills attempt to improve the measurement and reporting of physician performance and will suggest how to meet the different information needs of different audiences—patients, physicians, and payers—more effectively.

Official Website: http://www.aei.org/event/100179