(1) Our AMA advocates that third party payers, government entities and others that use and release physician-specific health care data adhere to the following principles: (a) Physicians under review and relevant physician organizations shall be provided with an adequate opportunity to review and respond to proposed physician-specific health care data interpretations and disclosures prior to their publication or release. (b) Effective safeguards to protect against the dissemination of inconsistent, incomplete, invalid, inaccurate or subjective physician-specific health care data shall be established. (c) Reliable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to prevent the unauthorized use or disclosure of physician-specific health care data shall be developed. (d) Such safeguards shall treat all underlying physician-specific health care data and all analyses, proceedings, records, and minutes from quality review activities on physician-specific health care data as confidential, and provide that none of these documents shall be subject to discovery, or admitted into evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding.(2) Our AMA supports release of severity-adjusted physician-specific health care data from carefully selected pilot projects where the data may be deemed accurate, reliable, and meaningful to physicians, consumers, and purchaser;
(3) Our AMA urges that any published physician-specific health care data be limited to appropriate data concerning the quality of health care, access to health care, and the cost of health care;
(4) Our AMA opposes the publication of physician-specific health care data collected outside of carefully selected pilot studies or where the data are not deemed accurate, reliable, or meaningful;
(5) Our AMA urges that a copy of the information in any such profile be forwarded to the subject physician, and that the physician be given the right to review and certify adequacy of the information prior to any profile being distributed, including being placed on the Internet; and
(6) Our AMA urges that the costs associated with creation of any such profiling system should not be paid for by physicians licensure fees.
Policy Timeline
BOT Rep. Q, I-92BOT Rep. W, A-92Reaffirmed: Res. 719, A-93CMS Rep. 10, A-96Appended: Res. 316, I-97Reaffirmation A-01Reaffirmation A-02Reaffirmation A-05Reaffirmed in lieu of Res. 724, A-05Reaffirmed: BOT action in response to referred for decision Res. 709, A-10, Res. 710, A-10, Res. 711, A-10 and BOT Rep. 17, A-10Reaffirmed: CEJA Rep. 01, A-20
