President's Blog

During my inaugural address in July, I examined our Osteopathic Pledge of Commitment line by line. I wanted to point out the ways in which all of us can put these words into action. Today, there is a way for you to put into action the words of our first line, which reads: “Provide compassionate, quality care to our patients.”

The AOA’s Clinical Assessment Program (CAP) measures the quality and effectiveness of your clinical performance against national benchmarks. More importantly, it shows you in real, tangible ways, how you can improve and better serve your patients. After participating in the AOA’s 2009 CAP for Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS), Linda Delo, DO, from Port St. Lucie, Fla., discovered that she was “doing well in cholesterol and diabetes management overall, but that [she] was a little weak in some areas, like documentation of eye exams and foot exams.” What might you discover?

As osteopathic physicians, we should constantly strive to live up to our commitment of providing compassionate, quality care. I urge you to take part in the AOA’s 2011 CAP for PQRS program, which is open now. Not only will you earn a 1% bonus payment from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for participating (Dr. Delo earned over $6,000 and I earned $9,000 that year), you will learn valuable information about your clinical performance and be given the opportunity to improve your practice and provide the absolute best in quality care.

Marty