Statement from Blue Shield of California Regarding Court Ruling

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Mar 25, 2011, 07:33 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, March 25, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Michael-Anne Browne, M.D., Medical Director, Blue Shield of California:

"Today's ruling dismissing the CMA's lawsuit is a validation that Blue Shield has every right to recognize high performing physicians through its Blue Ribbon Physician Recognition Program, and that none of the claims asserted by the CMA had legal merit. The Blue Ribbon Program recognizes thousands of high-volume, higher-performing doctors and has broad support from businesses, consumer advocates, labor organizations and others for breaking new ground in healthcare transparency. We are fully committed to providing our members and the general public with information they can use in evaluating the physicians who best fit their needs."

About the Blue Ribbon Physician Recognition Program

The Blue Ribbon program is based on data collected by the California Physician Performance Initiative (CPPI), a multi-stakeholder initiative run by the California Cooperative Healthcare Reporting Initiative (CCHRI) to measure and report on the delivery of preventive healthcare services by California's physicians. CPPI aggregates claims data covering more than 5 million patients and 63,000 physicians to generate a reliable set of metrics. CCHRI is a statewide collaborative of physician organizations, health plans, purchasers and consumers. The Blue Ribbon program does not consider cost and does not penalize physicians.

Among the medical care measures tracked by the CPPI are:

Breast cancer screening
Cervical cancer screening
Diabetes: HbA1c screening
Diabetes: LDL screening
Diabetes: Nephropathy screening
Coronary artery disease: LDL screening
Coronary artery disease: LDL drug therapy
Monitoring patients on persistent medications