In 2005, CareFirst demonstrated its commitment to health care quality and patient safety with a $5.3 million investment in new programs and initiatives directly related to improving quality of care, including:

Bridges to Excellence – a national program that rewards doctors for using procedures that improve the quality of care. Twenty primary care physician practices in our region are participating in a three-year pilot program to take specific, measurable steps to improve the quality of care for their patients. CareFirst is the nation’s first health plan to fund physician quality incentives this way. More than 50,000 CareFirst members will benefit from the new quality enhancements.

Patient Safety – regional partnerships involving the Maryland Patient Safety Center, the Delmarva Foundation and area hospitals to improve the quality of patient care and reduce avoidable deaths through improved safety measures. In 2005, CareFirst helped promote proven life-saving measures in dozens of intensive care units and operating rooms. Initial results indicate a significant reduction in ventilator-associated pneumonia and other infections in 45 participating intensive care units.

DrFirst e-Prescribing – a program encouraging primary care physicians to use computers to write prescriptions. CareFirst provided 500 doctors with personal digital assistants (PDAs) and computer software that allow them to send prescriptions directly to pharmacies over the internet. Filing electronically speeds the prescription process for customers, eliminates handwriting errors and automatically alerts physicians to dangerous drug interactions or allergies. In its first year, physicians filed more than 387,000 electronic prescriptions and were warned about 6,800 potentially adverse drug interactions and allergies.