QOPI-Certified Practices Eligible to Receive Discount on Medical Malpractice Rates
ASCO and its wholly owned subsidiary, Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI®) Certification Program, LLC (QCP), announced May 25 that The Doctors Company, the nation's largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurer, will recognize QOPI® Certification in its rate structure. Physicians participating in practices accredited by QCP's QOPI Certification Program will be eligible for a discount of up to 10% on medical malpractice insurance from The Doctors Company.
“We commend The Doctors Company for its recognition of QOPI Certification as a mark of excellence in quality cancer care,” said ASCO CEO Allen S. Lichter, MD, FASCO. “QOPI Certification demonstrates a practice's commitment to providing the highest level of quality of care for their patients, and we are grateful to The Doctors Company for recognizing those physicians who achieve this high standard.”
“We are proud to collaborate with ASCO and QCP to recognize QOPI Certified practices that have demonstrated commitment to providing outstanding oncology care,” said Richard E. Anderson, MD, FACP, Chairman and CEO of The Doctors Company. “Member programs like this support our mission to defend, protect, and reward the practice of good medicine.”
QOPI/QCP Details
QOPI is a voluntary self-assessment and improvement program launched by ASCO in 2006 to help hematology-oncology and medical oncology practices assess the quality of the care they provide to patients. Through QOPI, practices abstract data from patients' records up to twice per year and enter this information into a secure database. More than 900 oncology practices have registered for QOPI to date, and 250 have received their QOPI Certification through QCP.
QCP is an ASCO affiliate dedicated to innovative quality improvement programs for ASCO members and their patients and is committed to providing oncologists with the necessary resources to provide every patient with high-level cancer care. Its flagship program launched in 2010, the QOPI Certification Program, is the first program of its kind for oncology in the United States. To become certified, practices must submit to an evaluation of their entire practice as well as their documentation standards. Through onsite inspections, staff and steering group members then verify that the evaluation and documents are correct and that the practices meet core standards in key areas of treatment, including treatment planning; staff training and education; chemotherapy orders and drug preparation; patient consent and education; safe chemotherapy administration; and monitoring and assessment of patient well-being.
The Doctors Company will offer up to a 10% discount to physicians whose outpatient hematology-oncology practices have successfully received the 3-year QOPI Certification through QCP. Physicians in QOPI Certified practices are now able to apply for this discount, which will take effect for eligible practices at the time of their next insurance renewal.
The content in this post has not been reviewed by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, Inc. (ASCO®) and does not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of ASCO®.
