Participation > QIOs

Performance Assessment Organization (PAO) Participation

The Bridges to Excellence programs demonstrate that self-assessment  of performance and its validation by an independent third party is a very powerful agent of change for physicians and practices.  Physicians and practices that are eligible to participate in a BTE implementation have to perform a self-audit of their current performance.  This effort, while time consuming, results in the creation of a roadmap for change.  BTE has many testimonials from physicians and practices that provide evidence for this.

The independent third parties that assess physician and practice performance for BTE are called Performance Assessment Organizations (PAOs).  PAOs use rigorous sets of performance measures based on clinical outcomes data that physicians and practices voluntarily submit from their own systems or charts for scoring.  The PAO provides the certification information to BTE for the purposes of providing financial rewards that are distributed to recognized physicians.  PAO measures must be challenging but fair and attainable, continue to raise the bar and push accountability while having clear and attributable savings.

PAOs have two critical roles in their BTE efforts:

  1. Performance Evaluator: PAOs are responsible for evaluating the performance of local physicians and practices in BTE regions and accrediting/recognizing those who demonstrate they provide high quality care in their communities.
  2. Data Conduit: After accrediting/recognizing eligible physicians, PAOs act as the data conduit, submitting recognition data to BTE's data platform, the Recognition Data Exchange (RDE).  The RDE distributes individual physicians' recognition information to BTE administrators, communicating which physicians have earned rewards.

BTE works with both national and regional performance assessment organizations:

     Current Programs

Physician Office Link:  NCQA (national), MassPRO (Massachusetts), IPRO (New York)

Diabetes Care Link:  NCQA (national), MN Community Measurement (Minnesota)

Cardiac Care Link:  NCQA (national)

Spine Care Link:  NCQA (national)

     Upcoming Programs

Internal Medicine Care Link:  ABIM (national)

Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) interested in becoming a performance assessment organization for BTE should review the QIO Toolkit for more information.  All other interested performance assessors should contact BTE's Program and Operations Leader.

All rights reserved. BTE 2007.

Bridges to Excellence does not endorse any particular product or service or any physician or physician group.

Bridges to Excellence relies on third -party performance assessment organizations such as the NCQA and Quality Improvement Organizations to measure a physician or physician's group performance and ability to demonstrate that they meet certain measures of quality care.