PHILADELPHIA – Independence Blue Cross (IBC) plans to increase the type and sophistication of clinical alerts that it has been delivering to its network physicians since April.

The regional Blues plan is moving to the next phase amid positive feedback it has been getting from physicians that the alerts are valuable.

Lansdale, Pa.-based Green and Seidner Family Practice has focused on gaps in colon cancer screenings, pap smears and mammograms, said Barry Green, MD.

“The alerts have clearly given us additional opportunity beyond the typical process for addressing preventative health with our patients,” he said.

Green said the vast majority of his patients appreciate the level of concern shown from their physician and their health pan.

Just as important, Green noted that his practice didn’t look at the alerts as another task to do for the health plan. Rather, physicians have viewed them as collaboration between insurer and provider and an initiative built around quality, he said.

The clinical alerts have gotten some of the patients at Mt. Airy Family Practice to get an overdue test, said Tom Lyon, MD.

The Philadelphia-based office participates in a pay-for-performance program with IBC. “The clinical alerts give us information at the point of service so we can try to achieve our goals,” Lyon said. “This is a way payers can help us do better with patient compliance.”

“Most physicians are fairly knowledgeable about evidence-based guidelines, but what they lack is information,” said Ron Brooks, MD, senior network medical director for IBC. “We want to push information to them.”

IBC hopes to see improvement in compliance rates for particular tests in HEDIS measures by fall of 2010, Brooks said. “We want to make sure that the alerts are valuable,” he said. “We recognize that we can leverage our technology to improve the care of our members.”

In November, the regional health plan will provide lab values for the H1N1 virus and LDL cholesterol levels. IBC’s physician advisory committee will also look at other areas the alerts can drive up compliance for its network physicians, he said.