FARMINGTON HILLS, Mich., Oct. 27, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- U.S. News & World Report/NCQA (National Committee for Quality Assurance) released its annual report on health plans -- U.S. News & World Report/NCQA America's Best Health Plans 2006.(see Note) Care Choices HMO is ranked No. 12 among 253 Commercial plans nationwide. It is the top-ranked health plan in Michigan -- for the second year in a row.
"Care Choices is proud to be included among the best health plans in the nation, and to be top ranked in Michigan for the second consecutive year by U.S. News & World Report/NCQA," said William R. Alvin, CEO of Care Choices. "The quantitative findings provide independent validation that all health plans are not the same. Our employees and provider partners have worked very hard to provide exceptional quality health care and customer service to members and employer groups. These rankings give businesses and consumers another tool to use when making decisions about their health plan."
The ranking is based on five measures:
-- Access to Care: Consumer experience with getting needed care,
getting care quickly, well childcare and preventive visits for
children.
-- Overall Member Satisfaction: Consumer perceptions about how well
doctors communicate, ratings of personal doctor, specialist,
overall health care and health plan services, including customer
service and claims.
-- Prevention: How often preventive services are provided (e.g.,
childhood and adolescent immunizations, prenatal care,
mammography, cervical, and colorectal cancer screening), and
appropriate use of antibiotics for children with common cold.
-- Treatment: How well health plans take care of people who have
health problems, such as asthma, diabetes, heart disease, high
blood pressure, mental illness and medical assistance with smoking
cessation.
-- Overall Quality Score: A combination of the measures in the four
main categories above as well as the NCQA accreditation standards
score.
"While Care Choices HMO does not provide direct clinical care, as a part of the health-care system we partner with our providers to support their delivery of excellent care," said Gilbert Burgos, MD, MPH, CPE, Chief Medical Officer at Care Choices. "Our rating on these measures demonstrates our dedication to making sure people get the right care, in the right place, at the right time. We are committed to delivering exceptional clinical quality, and customer satisfaction. This report provides meaningful information about the care that our members receive."
An important feature of the "U.S. News & World Report/NCQA America's Best Health Plans 2006" is that consumers can go on-line to view specific information about how health plans compare on a number of meaningful measures, such as cancer screening, treatment for diabetes and heart disease, and control of high blood pressure.
For more information about the "U.S. News & World Report/NCQA America's Best Health Plans 2006" report, go to www.usnews.com.
NCQA is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS(r), the tool the nation's health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA launched this new data as a response to requests from employers, consumers and regulators for adding more detail to their quality reports.
About Care Choices
Care Choices is a health benefits management company and a subsidiary of Trinity Health, one of the nation's leading providers of health care services. Since 1986, Care Choices has been providing quality health care coverage to thousands of members throughout Michigan. The Care Choices suite of products includes Care Choices HMO, Care Choices PPO, Preferred Choices PPO and consumer-directed plans. Care Choices offers a broad, fully integrated network of physicians, hospitals and other health care professionals all sharing a strong commitment to improving the health status of the communities it serves by delivering effective and affordable health care. Care Choices HMO maintains the highest rating available of Excellent by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).
Note: "America's Best Health Plans" is a trademark of U.S. News & World Report.