ICD-9 codes are being collected by health plans for performance measurement. Your practice needs to aggregate its own data. Each health plan will give you results from only a small sample of your practice, and these samples can easily be biased. You need to know how your practice looks as a whole so you can figure out how yours really stacks up. This is easier said than done, and you can count on it taking up some resources and time.
Health plans are under pressure to improve.
If you've got an idea for improving patient care, now is the time to speak up. Whether it's encouraging smoking cessation or improving compliance to diabetes monitoring, plans are desperate for physician-led efforts that will result in better scores. Also, consider the health plans with which you contract. Use the data and examine them as well. Thus, physicians have a golden opportunity to inform patients.