In an agreement reached with Congress, the American Medical Association will develop 140 physician performance measures covering 34 clinical areas by the end of this year, reports the New York Times. Beginning in 2007, physicians will receive a stipend to collect and report data on how well they performed on outcome measures to the federal government, which will tie Medicare payment to the scores. Although the AMA maintains that one set of performance measurements will be easier for physicians to report, specialty medical societies objected to the AMA’s "confidential” agreement with Congress and said that they should have had the opportunity to develop and test the performance measures, according to the article.
