In an attempt to afford Medicare physicians and providers easier access to data, the Informatics Team of Highmark Medicare Services has undertaken the 'CARs' Project. 'CARs' is an acronym for Comparative Analysis Reports. These reports will be periodically mailed to selected Medicare providers under the leadership of our Carrier Medical Director. The first CARs mailing occurred in the summer of 2002 and included 125 physicians in the Family Practice Specialty. The focus of this informative packet was the family of evaluation and management codes, 99211 - 99215. Since that time, similar packets have been mailed to several other specialties.

Listing of all CAR's mailed (by fiscal year)

The CARs packets contain several items that may prove helpful. Specifically:

• An introductory letter from our Carrier Medical Director;

• A narrative explaining the details of the CAR, including the analysis;

• A graphical representation of a providers' utilization vis-à-vis an appropriate peer grouping;

• A feedback survey / questionnaire.

See a sample of the graphical comparison data that is included in the CAR packet.

See a sample of the graphical comparison data that is included in the CAR packet, by specialty.

While the Informatics Team would like to send a CAR to every provider in Highmark Medicare Services's jurisdiction, such a task is not feasible given our resources. So, in an effort to make at least some data available to everyone, the Informatics Team also provides summary data for physician and provider review on this website (click on link directly above this paragraph). Any data that is made available in this venue will not be specific to individual providers, but rather will be summary in nature. (This is necessary to maintain the appropriate levels of confidentiality.) Such data may include summary data across all provider types, data summarized by provider specialty, or data specific to a particular specialty.