Physicians aged 70 to 74 due for an age-related peer assessment will have the option to participate in CPSO’s Quality Improvement (QI) Program instead.

As such, these physicians can still realize the benefits of participating in quality improvement activities — either with their hospital colleagues in the QI Enhanced Partnership stream or by developing quality improvement goals related to their own clinical practice in the QI Enhanced Individuals stream.

“This addition affords physicians the flexibility to select a Quality Program option that best supports their practice improvements, while fulfilling their CPSO quality requirements,” says Dr. Ted Everson, a CPSO Medical Advisor.

The current QI Enhanced pilot was limited to physicians aged 70-72 who were selected for Peer Assessment in 2023/2024 and was not available to physicians aged 73 and 74.

Until now, physicians in this age group were required to have a peer assessment every five years conducted by the Quality Assurance Program.

Physicians who choose the QI Enhanced program option and fulfill all the program’s requirements in 2024 may be exempted from their scheduled peer assessment requirement until 2029, at the discretion of CPSO’s Quality Assurance Committee.

Of the 63 physicians who participated in the QI Enhanced pilot program, 79 percent (50 physicians) received an exemption from Peer Assessment for this five-year cycle from the Quality Assurance Committee. Twenty-one percent (13 physicians) were directed to continue with their required Peer Assessment.

For those physicians enrolled in QI Partnerships for Hospitals, the QI Enhanced — Partnership will require an attestation from their Chief, completion of the physician questionnaire [PQ], practice profile online QI activity, self-guided chart review [SGCR] online QI activity, and a session with a QI Coach.

If a physician is not enrolled in QI Partnership for Hospitals, they have the option of completing QI Enhanced — Individuals. This will require completion of the PQ, practice profile, SGCR, data driven online QI activity, submission of a practice improvement plan (PIP), and a session with a QI Coach with the option to resubmit a revised PIP.

Following QI coaching, a report will be submitted to the Quality Assurance Committee. The Committee will then deliberate to determine whether the member should have a QA Peer Assessment.