Brown & Toland Medical Group scored in the top 10 percent among California medical groups in several categories for clinical care in 2003 in the annual Pay for Performance (P4P) initiative.

Brown & Toland scored in the 90th percentile for providing preventative care such as breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, childhood immunizations, diabetes care, and cholesterol management. Additionally, the group scored in the 85th percentile for providing care for its asthma patients. The results for 2003's initiative were released in August 2004.

"We are obviously very pleased with our clinical results," said Stan Padilla, M.D., Vice President of Medical Services and Chief Medical Officer. "We have placed an emphasis on providing the correct preventative measures at the right time, to both keep our patients healthy and reduce the overall cost of health care."

P4P measures and rewards physician groups for chronic care management, investment and use of Information Technology, and the patient experience. Groups that score well on the initiative are rewarded a bonus. The initiative was first established in California in 2001 by the Integrated Healthcare Association (IHA) and six participating health plans. Padilla projects that Brown & Toland physicians will receive about $3.2 million in bonus payments for 2003.

Fiona Wilson, M.D., Vice President, Quality at Brown & Toland, noted that the medical group has a number of programs in place to ensure that its patients receive quality care, including asthma and diabetes management programs, a support report program in which the medical group sends reports to primary care physicians to alert them that their patients are due for certain tests, and a $10 million IT investment that will bring an electronic medical record and practice management tools to select Brown & Toland physician offices.

"Health care is light years behind other industries in the application of technology," said Wilson. "At Brown & Toland we are making a concerted effort to close the gap and set the pace by using technology to improve the quality of care we provide to our patients, reduce costs, and give our physicians practice management tools that improve quality and efficiency."