Meritage Medical Network Earns Elite Status on Patient Care Capabilities

Novato, California (PRWEB) June 19, 2014

Meritage Medical Network is proud to achieve the coveted Elite status from the California Association of Physician Groups (CAPG), the largest association in the country representing physician organizations practicing coordinated care. This year, Meritage Medical Network received four out of four stars, surpassing a peer-defined threshold score in key domain areas.

CAPG kicked off its national conference of healthcare experts by releasing the results of its annual Standards of Excellence (SOE) member survey. This survey scores how well equipped and structured physician groups are to deliver better patient experience, better population health, and better overall affordability.

The four key domain scored areas are:
1. Care Management Practices: timely, safe, effective, efficient, and constantly improving care.
2. Health Information Technology: utilizing the technical tools required to support the above, plus conduits for individual care coordination, population awareness, performance measurement, and feedback.
3. Accountability and Transparency: responding to the demands of the people we serve.
4. Patient Centered Care: turning PR terminology into actual service culture.

Domains 5 and 6 are not scored but are instrumental in providing information about improvement in certain areas:
5. Group Support of Advanced Primary Care: making the "Patient-Centered Medical Home" a system-wide functionality and revitalizing the discipline of primary care.
6. Administrative and Financial Capability: how physician groups respond to the financial challenges of healthcare reform.

Joel Criste, CEO, says that "we are incredibly proud to receive the Elite status from CAPG. Meritage will continue to maintain these standards of excellence and will work hard to keep providing outstanding medical care and management to all of our patients. In light of our recent designation as an Accountable Care Organization, Meritage recognizes the direction of the future of healthcare, and we remain committed to moving forward with innovative and cost-effective strategies at Meritage."

Eighty-six medical groups participated in this voluntary, critical self-assessment for CAPG's 180 medical group members in 30 states. Collaboration with the National Committee for Quality Assurance expedited the application, analysis, and auditing of the survey. Participating medical groups cover 11.1 million people in the HMO model of care and 5 million individuals with PPO coverage and governmental programs coverage.

About Meritage Medical Network
Meritage Medical Network is a healthcare network representing physician members in Marin, Napa, and Sonoma Counties in California. We provide health care and administer benefits for HMO members in those regions. Our expert medical and administrative staff are dedicated to ensuring that patients receive the highest quality health care available. In January 2013, Meritage Medical Network was designated as an Accountable Care OrganizationMedicare. Meritage Accountable Care Organization delivers quality coordinated care to the residents of the North Bay. For more information, please visit http://www.meritagemed.com.

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