A recent GAO report looked at how private health care entities provide performance data to physicians, and how such practices could be used to improve CMS efforts to provide feedback to providers. The GAO determined that the nine health insurers and statewide collaboratives it reviewed typically employ multiple benchmarks (e.g., peer group averages or past performance), while CMS only compares results to the national average rates of all physician groups that submitted data on any given measure. The GAO observes that CMS’s approach precludes physicians from viewing their performance in fuller context. The private entities also sent reports more than once a year, in contrast to CMS annual reports that may limit physicians’ opportunity to make improvements in advance of their annual payment adjustments. The GAO suggests that as CMS implements and refines its physician feedback and Value Modifier programs, it should consider comparing physicians’ performance against additional benchmarks, such as state or regional averages, and disseminating performance reports more frequently. The report is entitled  “Medicare: Certain Physician Feedback Reporting Practices of Private Entities Could Improve CMS’s Efforts.”