AMGA Recognizes Organizations for Achievements in Diabetes Care and Commitment to Healthcare Quality

Alexandria, VA – AMGA has honored nine healthcare organizations for their efforts in improving healthcare quality. Five medical groups and health systems were named 2020 Together 2 Goal® Award recipients for their achievements in diabetes care. Three were recognized as 2020 Foundation Stars for their commitment to improved healthcare as demonstrated by their participation in and support of AMGA Foundation’s quality programs. One corporate organization received the 2020 Corporate Philanthropy Award for its outstanding support of the Foundation’s chronic care initiatives.

The 2020 Together 2 Goal® Awards honor high performers and innovators in the Diabetes: Together 2 Goal® campaign, a national initiative uniting more than 150 medical groups and health systems in an effort to improve care for people with Type 2 diabetes. As a part of the campaign, the awardees have been implementing best practices to improve the quality of diabetes care at their organizations and reporting results on a variety of measures. The awardees for top performance in diabetes care include:

• Coastal Carolina Health Care, P.A.: Best Performance¹ – Small Group²:
• USMD Health System: Best Performance – Medium Group³
• Scripps Medical Foundation: Best Performance – Large Group⁴

The recipients for innovation in diabetes care include: 

• Premier Medical Associates, P.C.: T2G Innovator for Cardiovascular Health⁵
• Prevea Health: T2G Innovator for Eye Health⁶

Additionally, AMGA Foundation bestowed its 2020 Foundation Star Awards to three high-performing, AMGA-member organizations for their participation in four or more Foundation initiatives that focus on improving health and health care. These initiatives include: applying for the Acclaim Award, which honors high-performing healthcare organizations; participating in one or more Best Practices Learning Collaborative; taking part in the Together 2 Goal ® campaign; and donating to AMGA Foundation. 

The 2020 Foundation Star awardees are:

• Premier Medical Associates – Small Group
• Watson Clinic – Medium Group
• Geisinger – Large Group

AMGA Foundation also named Merck its 2020 Corporate Philanthropy Award recipient for its outstanding support and involvement with various Foundation chronic care programs. Merck has been a steadfast supporter of the Foundation’s work since 2012 and has collaborated with the Foundation on a multiple of initiatives, including the Together 2 Goal® campaign, the Chronic Care Roundtable, and a diabetes symposium.

“AMGA Foundation’s lifesaving quality improvement programs are only possible because of the outstanding support and involvement of these organizations and individuals,” said John W. Kennedy, M.D., chief medical officer, AMGA, and president, AMGA Foundation. “Their dedication to high performance health care has improved the lives of millions. We look forward to continuing this collaboration as we seek to create a healthier America and improve the lives of millions more.”

1. This category recognizes the highest performers across different group sizes who self-report data to the campaign on the diabetes bundle measure. This measure includes blood sugar and blood pressure control rates, statin management, and medical attention for kidney disease.
2. A small group is defined as a medical group or health system with fewer than 150 FTE physicians. 
3. A medium group is defined as a medical group or health system with an FTE count equal to or greater than 150 and less than 500.
4. A large group is defined as a medical group or health system an FTE physician count equal to or greater than 500.   
5. This category recognizes the organization, who through innovation, successfully drove rapid improvement in cardiovascular measures for their diabetes population.
6. This category recognizes the organization, who through innovation, successfully drove rapid improvement in documented diabetic retinopathy screenings. 

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About the Together 2 Goal® Campaign

AMGA Foundation, the philanthropic arm of AMGA, launched Together 2 Goal®, a national campaign to fight the challenge of Type 2 diabetes on March 12, 2016. Together 2 Goal® includes more than 150 medical groups, health systems, nonprofit partners, and corporate collaborators such as the American Association of Diabetes Educators, American Diabetes Association, Geisinger, Henry Ford Health System, The Janssen Pharmaceuticals Companies of Johnson & Johnson, Intermountain Healthcare, and Ochsner Health System. In 2019, the campaign met its goal of 1 million lives improved. Participating groups will use the remainder of the five-year campaign to hardwire care processes to make these improvements sustainable. together2goal.org

About AMGA Foundation
 AMGA Foundation is AMGA’s philanthropic arm that enables medical groups and other organized systems of care to consistently improve health and health care. AMGA Foundation serves as a catalyst, connector, and collaborator for translating the evidence of what works best in improving health and health care in everyday practice.

About AMGA
 AMGA is a trade association leading the transformation of health care in America. Representing multispecialty medical groups and integrated systems of care, we advocate, educate, innovate, and empower our members to deliver the next level of high performance health. AMGA is the national voice promoting awareness of our members’ recognized excellence in the delivery of coordinated, high-quality, high-value care. More than 175,000 physicians practice in our member organizations, delivering care to one in three Americans.