WASHINGTON DC — Seventy of its member physician groups earned the acclaimed “Elite” status in America’s Physician Groups’ (APG’s) 2023 Standards of Excellence™ (SOE®) program, the organization announced today. The SOE® program is an annual, comprehensive survey administered by APG that evaluates the coordinated care models and the value-based care infrastructure of the organization’s physician group members.
APG’s SOE program sets the industry standard for evaluating the level of sophistication of accountable physician practices and organizations. It serves as a one-of-a-kind “implementation playbook” for value-based care and one of the only industry-recognized tools that enables physician groups to benchmark their accountable care capabilities against their peers.
“Achieving SOE elite status demonstrates that APG member organizations are high-performing, risk-bearing organizations, and are meeting all of the necessary federal and state qualifications, quality performance requirements, and accreditations,” said APG President and CEO Susan Dentzer. “As a testament to the value that our members place on the SOE program, this year we had the highest numbers of total participants and a record number of new participants that achieved Elite status.”
Now in its 16th year, the SOE® survey assesses organizations based on five rigorous categories:
- Population health management
- Health information technology
- Accountability and transparency
- Patient-centered care
- Advanced primary care
Each year, APG’s Clinical Quality Leadership Committee adds new elements to each category to set a higher standard than the previous year, in line with both rising national health care standards and increased expectations of government agencies, purchasers, payors, and patients. Participants in the annual SOE® survey receive between zero and five stars based on their performance delivering risk-based, coordinated care in five of six domains (or categories). APG collaborated with PRC on the review, administration, and scoring of the SOE® survey.
“One of the important aspects about the SOE program is that it allows participants to use their results as a framework for best practices and understand where they have opportunities to improve,” said Susan M. Huang, MD, APG Chief Medical Officer. “This year’s survey revealed that the majority of our surveyed groups screen for health-related social needs such as transportation, food insecurity, and housing instability, which are critical components of patient-centered care.”
The SOE® program is open to all of APG’s approximately 360 physician group members. This year, 137 medical groups, health systems, and independent practice associations (IPAs) within APG’s membership participated in the voluntary survey. Collectively, these groups care for a total of 28.5 million people who are attributed or managed under commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid coverage.
This year’s SOE® Elite-status recipients were formally recognized at the APG Fall Conference 2023 in Washington, DC.
For more information about the SOE® program, visit https://www.apg.org/education/education-programs/standards-of-excellence/.
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About America’s Physician Groups
America’s Physician Groups is a national association representing approximately 360 physician groups with approximately 170,000 physicians providing care to nearly 90 million patients. APG’s motto, ‘Taking Responsibility for America’s Health,’ represents our members’ commitment to clinically integrated, coordinated, value-based health care in which physician groups are accountable for the costs and quality of patient care. Visit us at www.apg.org
Contact: Greg Phillips, APG Director of Communications, 202-770-1901
