Newswise — The American Medical Group Association presented the annual Medical Group Preeminence Award today to Northeast Arkansas Clinic (NEA Clinic) at AMGA's 2005 Annual Conference, being held March 10-13, 2005 in Los Angeles. This is the second time the medical group has received this distinction.

The AMGA Medical Group Preeminence Award is presented annually to AMGA member groups or IPA physician-administrator leadership teams for exceptional leadership; innovation and vision; contributions to the advancement of quality; effective health care delivery practices and structure; and outstanding contributions to the local public community in which the medical group or IPA is located. In addition to NEA Clinic, previous recipients include Albert Lea Medical Center"Mayo Health System, Colorado Permanente Medical Group, The Everett Clinic, Holzer Clinic, Lovelace Health System, Park Nicollet Health Services, St. John's Clinic, Southeast Permanente Medical Group, and Watson Clinic Foundation.

Also honored 2003, the management team of NEA Clinic is being recognized for making their organization a model for quality integrated delivery systems in their region. In order to accomplish this goal, they acquired a 110-bed acute care hospital, formed a managed care organization to meet the needs of all insurers, and added needed services in the community. Through all of these changes, the leadership team and staff continued to focus on delivering quality patient care. The group implemented a program called "PROMISE" :

Prompt serviceRespect and dignityOur compassionMaintain confidentialityIndividualized attentionSafe and clean environmentExceptional care

The initiative included online patient satisfaction surveys; an EMR was placed in all clinical sites to link physicians in delivering quality, informed care; and the clinic expanded its Urgent Care services to better meet community needs. Amid these and other initiatives, the clinic expanded the work of its charitable foundation through which "The Medicine Assistance Program" is now able to serve 6,000 patients with over $500,000 worth of prescription drugs per month. This project has greatly improved patient compliance, reduced admissions to the hospital, and in general, improved the health of the community. Another of its charitable efforts, HopeCircle, gives needed support and hope to hundreds of patients and their families facing catastrophic illness.

"This award recognizes contributions to the community but also to the group practice model, itself," said Donald W. Fisher, Ph.D., AMGA's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Once again, NEA Clinic has proven what professionals dedicated to medical group practice can achieve to better serve their patients and their organizations."

The American Medical Group Association (AMGA) represents medical groups, including some of the nation's largest, most prestigious integrated healthcare delivery systems. AMGA advocates for the multispecialty medical group model of healthcare delivery and for the patients served by medical groups through innovation and information sharing, benchmarking, leadership development, and continuous striving to improve patient care. The members of AMGA deliver health care to more than 50 million patients in 42 states, including 15 million capitated lives. Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, AMGA is the strategic partner for medical groups providing a comprehensive package of benefits, including political advocacy, educational and networking programs and publications, benchmarking data services, and financial and operations assistance. For more information, visit http://www.amga.org.

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