The Blue Ribbon Recognition program, which went live in June, identifies physicians who meet certain standards of care by placing ribbons next to their names on the Blue Shield website. The program was developed by Blue Shield and a purchasing coalition and uses data from the California Physician Performance Initiative, which is operated by health plans, physicians groups and purchasers, according to the report.
The suit alleges the rating program includes misinformation and that Blue Shield released it knowing it was flawed. The suit further alleges the program “amounts to an economic profiling scheme,” according to the report. Blue Shield calls this claim “patently false.”
Blue Shield responded in a statement by saying the program is based on nationally recognized measures of care and afforded physicians the opportunity to review their own data.
Read the Sacramento Business Journal report on the California Medical Association.
