[MMA News Now, Sept. 13, 2012] The new 24-member Provider Peer Grouping (PPG) Advisory Committee, which was created in response to legislation passed in 2012 that was initiated by the MMA and the Minnesota Hospital Association, held its first meeting on Sept. 7.  

In the meeting, committee members reviewed the progress of PPG to date and identified issues for discussion over the next four meetings – peer group definition, clinic and hospital inclusion criteria, quality composite score development, attribution and risk adjustment.

The group will advise the health department on the development and implementation of the PPG system and will meet no fewer than three times per year, with three additional meetings already planned in 2012.
 
Six physicians are serving on the committee, four of whom are practicing physicians and were recommended by the MMA – Julie Anderson, M.D., St. Cloud Medical Group; William Davis, M.D., Winona Health; David Luehr, M.D., Integrity Health Network; and, Daniel Trajano, M.D., Park Nicollet.  The other physicians participating are Larry Lee, M.D., BlueCross BlueShield of Minnesota and Patrick Irvine, M.D. 

The health department is intending to publicly release hospital-specific and clinic-specific PPG results in 2013, although firm timelines remain unclear. For more information, click here.