Independence Blue Cross presents Quality Cup Awards to PentaHealth, Main Line Health, Redeemer Health, and St. Luke’s University Health Network

Independence Blue Cross (IBX) awarded four primary care groups in its network with this year's Independence Quality Cup (Quality Cup). The winning primary care groups were PentaHealth, Main Line Health, Redeemer Health, and St. Luke's University Health Network. The Quality Cup, which is based on an IBX quality incentive program, compares primary care practices on how well they do on specific care measures.

"These awards give us the chance to put a spotlight on primary care practices that are doing an outstanding job of managing their patients and delivering excellent care. Since launching the Quality Cup in 2020, we have seen consistent increases in performance across our network. This is reflected in the growing number of members who are getting mammograms, following statin therapy, maintaining healthy blood pressure, and managing their diabetes," said Dr. Rodrigo Cerdá, senior vice president of Health Services and chief medical officer at Independence Blue Cross.

IBX hosted its inaugural Quality Cup Award Ceremony on October 1 at its headquarters in Philadelphia. At the event, Dr. Cerdá emphasized the critical role of primary care in achieving positive health outcomes, particularly considering recent challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic. He also stressed the importance of teamwork and collaboration in reaching these successes. The awards were presented in four categories:

• Highest Performance Commercial: Main Line Health
• Highest Performance Medicare Advantage: Redeemer Health
• Most Improved: St. Luke's University Health Network
• Overall winner: PentaHealth

There are nine specific care measures that IBX looks at to determine the winners of the Quality Cup. They are used to assess how well primary care practices perform in areas like cancer screenings (breast, cervical, and colorectal), managing high blood pressure and diabetes, and ensuring proper treatment with medications like statins. To evaluate each care measure, IBX looks at the best practices established by organizations like the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) and Medicare's Five Star Quality Rating Program (Stars).

Practices in the IBX network who fit the following criteria are automatically enrolled in the Quality Cup and don't have to take any extra steps:

• Are classified as either family practice, internal medicine, geriatrics, or general medicine.
• Offices may be hospital-owned, independently owned, or part of a clinically integrated network.
• Have individual offices that qualify and opt into IBX's Quality Incentive Payment System (QIPS) program and satisfy all QIPS program prerequisites.
• Serve a population of at least 2,500 members within their group practice.

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Diana Quattrone
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