Partners' docs earn NCQA approval.(National Committee for Quality Assurance)(Partners HealthCare System Inc.)(Brief Article)

In an unusual move, the physician network affiliated with Partners HealthCare System Inc. has earned accreditation from Washington, D.C.-based National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the body that certifies the state's leading health plans.

Partners' network of 1,100 doctors, known as Partners Community HealthCare Inc. (PCHI), paid about $40,000 for the NCQA review. While it is voluntary, only a handful of physicians' groups in the country have gone through the NOQA process, which only recently began accrediting doctors' organizations. Rather, most earn accreditation with their affiliated hospitals from the national Joint Commission on Accreditation of …