In response to a national need for objective ways to demonstrate the quality of care rendered by clinicians, NCQA offers a suite of programs to do just that. NCQA launched its first Recognition Program a decade ago. Today NCQA programs recognize tens of thousands of clinicians for high clinical quality. Federal, state, and local governments, insurers, self-insured employers and medical specialty boards have asked NCQA, through the Recognition Programs, to identify clinicians for financial incentives for quality, consumer transparency and Maintenance of (board) Certification. Each month, a wide range of national organizations requests an electronic transfer of the names of NCQA Recognized clinicians and clinical practices.
NCQA’s Clinical Recognition Programs were developed in collaboration with panels of national experts on diabetes, ischemic heart and vascular disease and back pain. The Diabetes Recognition Program, the Heart/Stroke Recognition Program and the Back Pain Recognition program require clinicians to audit their own patient care against evidence-based standards and demonstrate their outcomes.
NCQA also offers products that recognize a practice organization’s delivery of care systems and patient centeredness. The Physician Practice Connection is applicable to almost all types of clinicians, including specialist practices. NCQA’s Recognition Program for primary care physicians, Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) began in 2008, and in 2011 began to offer a second generation of standards.