New HMO focus overdue.(Health maintenance organizations try to control health care costs)(Brief Article)

Business Insurance, July, 2001

WHAT SHOULD BE DONE to control health care costs? Obviously, there is no one right answer, but a new approach being launched by Blue Cross of California is, we think, an outstanding one. As we reported in the July 16 issue, Blue Cross will begin providing bonuses to physician medical groups for delivering quality care and for measuring patient satisfaction.

The health plan will abandon its current practice of paying cost- and utilization-containment bonuses to providers with health maintenance organization contracts. The money from that program will instead go to HMO-contracted doctor groups that have a system for measuring quality and clinical performance, as well as a way to reward individual doctors who score well on those measurements. Blue Cross...

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