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1 AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION HOUSE OF DELEGATES 2 3 4 Resolution: 207 5 (A-09) 6 7Introduced by: Illinois Delegation 8 9Subject: Physician Profiling / Grading and Report Cards 10 11Referred to: Reference Committee B 12 (Monica C. Wehby, MD, Chair) 13 14 15Whereas, Providing safe, effective, affordable and accessible health care for all citizens is the 16primary goal of all AMA members; and 17 18Whereas, Our AMA vigorously opposes governmental and private sector pay-for-performance 19programs that do not follow the established AMA Guidelines; and 20 21Whereas, Several insurance companies have started providing a grading/rating system for 22profiling physicians; and 23 24Whereas, Insurance companies publish this information on their web sites or they distribute it to 25their insured so as to enable the insured to choose participating providers; and 26 27Whereas, Insurance companies are aware of the AMA’s policy statement on Pay-for28Performance (AMA Policy H-450.947), which states that programs should be designed to 29improve effectiveness and safety of patient care; that they should be fair and ethical; and that 30they should be patient-centered and link evidence-based performance measures; therefore be it 31 32RESOLVED, That our American Medical Association reaffirm its “Guidelines for Pay-for33Performance Programs,” which augment the AMA’s “Principles for Pay-for-Performance 34Programs” (Reaffirm HOD Policy); and be it further 35 36RESOLVED, That our AMA further evaluate this issue and create and support legislation as 37appropriate so that insurance company grading/rating systems do not encourage deselecting of 38high-risk patients so as to bolster their profiles and thus contribute to inaccessibility to care for 39these patients, and not encourage deselecting of physicians. (Directive to Take Action) 40 41Fiscal Note: Implement accordingly at estimated staff cost of $9,294. 42 43Received: 05/05/09