CONSUMER REPORTS HEALTH TO PUBLISH
NATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE
HEALTH INSURANCE PLAN RANKINGS
WASHINGTON, DC AND YONKERS, NY — Consumers Union (CU), the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today announced a content sharing agreement that will help consumers evaluate the performance and quality of hundreds of private, Medicaid, and Medicare health insurance plans.
This fall, in time to help the many Americans who will be choosing health plans during open enrollment, NCQA will release its independent Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-2011. Consumers Union will republish NCQA’s rankings online and in its November issue of Consumer Reports magazine, ensuring that this valuable information reaches millions of consumers.
NCQA anticipates evaluating over 700 health plans and ranking approximately 500 of those based on clinical performance, member satisfaction, and NCQA Accreditation. To be eligible for rankings, health plans must authorize public release of their performance information and submit enough data for statistically valid analysis.
Visitors to Consumer Reports’ health site at www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org will be able to access NCQA’s rankings and related information and “drill down” to NCQA’s detailed information about ranked plans’ performances based on member satisfaction, prevention, and treatment. Detailed findings will include information about cancer screening and care for asthma, diabetes, and heart disease. Visitors will also be able to use a “compare” function to contrast and judge as many as five plans at a time.
NCQA’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-2011 will use NCQA’s established rankings methodology, which has been used and widely recognized since 2005. Consumers Union and NCQA have agreed to collaborate in 2011 to develop new ways to help consumers evaluate the quality of health insurance plans.
The publication of health ratings has been an area of significant growth and expansion at Consumer Reports under the auspices of the newly formed Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, which to date has published rankings of more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals and prescription drugs for more than 20 medical conditions, in addition to a wide variety of healthy living products ranging from sunscreens to ellipticals.
“On the heels of sweeping health reforms, consumers need these kinds of tools now more than ever before to evaluate the quality of health plans and make smart health care decisions,” said Jim Guest, President and CEO of Consumers Union. “We’re very pleased to be working with NCQA and the timing couldn’t be better given the rapidly changing health care environment.”
“All of us at NCQA are thrilled to be working with Consumers Union,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “The combination of NCQA’s insight and Consumers Union’s reach and credibility among consumers is terrific. Informing and engaging consumers so they can shop for health care based on quality is crucial in an effective, 21st century health care system.”
About the Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center
Consumers have come to trust Consumer Reports’ ratings of thousands of products and services for the expertise and independence they represent. The Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center uses similar approaches to publish ratings tables, selecting the best sources of research to rate health care services, drugs, devices, institutional providers, and eventually physicians and other practitioners. The Health Ratings Center (www.ConsumerReportsHealth.org) currently provides Best Buy Drugs (BBD) ratings on prescription medications for more than 20 common medical conditions; Ratings of more than 3,000 U.S. hospitals; Ratings for a wide array of healthy living products from fitness equipment to sunscreens; thousands of natural medicines; and treatment options for more than 200 conditions and diseases.
About the National Committee for Quality Assurance
Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2010, NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers, and researchers.
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