July 28, 2004
NCQA RELEASES QUALITY COMPASS® 2004 AND UPDATED QUALITY DIVIDEND CALCULATOR
Flu Shots for Adults measure added; State Of Health Care Quality report to be issued September 23
WASHINGTON — The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today released the latest update to its comprehensive database of health plan performance information, Quality Compass® 2004. The database includes information on NCQA Accreditation and plan-specific results on HEDIS® and CAHPS® measures, data sets that measure clinical performance and member satisfaction, respectively. A measure of flu shot rates for adults is included in this year’s edition of Quality Compass for the first time. This year’s data was reported by 262 health plans that cover more than 60 million Americans collectively.
New this year to Quality Compass is data on the Flu Shots for Adults measure, which tracks the percentage of health plan members 50 – 64 years of age who received a flu shot the previous year. Influenza is estimated to cause nearly 120,000 hospitalizations and 40,000 deaths annually. Annual flu shots are a known means of preventing or mitigating cases of influenza, especially among Americans 50 and older.
“Quality Compass gives the health care market what it needs most—clear, easy-to-understand information about performance,” said NCQA Executive Vice President Greg Pawlson, M.D., M.P.H. “It’s a buyer’s guide for anyone who has to make a decision about which health plan to contract with.”
Quality Compass is used not just by employers and consultants, but also by health plans for market and competitor analysis. “Quality Compass gives our organization a complete picture of where we stand,” said Jane Elliott, Director of Quality Management, Health Alliance Medical Plans. “It’s a crucial tool that not only helps us to identify those areas where we excel, but also those areas where we need to focus our quality improvement efforts.”
Quality Compass allows employers to directly compare a health plan’s HEDIS and CAHPS scores to other health plans or to national and regional benchmarks. The database allows users to sort by plan to see which health plans achieved “best-in-class” designation on measures covering such conditions as heart attacks, diabetes care, and immunization rates.
Also included is the Quality Dividend Calculator 2004: Compass Edition, an interactive Web-based tool that allows employers to estimate gains in productivity and reductions in sick leave that result from selecting a higher quality health plan. The estimates are based on plans’ HEDIS results and information provided by the employer about the demographics of their workforce. Users can select multiple plans and compare the results side by side. A free, online version of the Quality Dividend Calculator is available at www.ncqacalculator.com.
As with past editions of Quality Compass, this year’s version includes comprehensive national, regional and state averages and benchmarks for commercial plans. Quality Compass’ electronic data file version features plan-specific commercial and Medicaid results in addition to national averages.
Quality Compass is available on CD-ROM or as an electronic data file in Microsoft® Excel or SAS® formats. The Quality Compass 2004 CD-ROM and the electronic data files can be ordered online through NCQA’s Web site, www.ncqa.org, or by calling (888) 275-7585.
Quality Compass is the database upon which NCQA’s annual State of Health Care Quality report is based. The 2004 State of Health Care Quality report will be released on September 23.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, and recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
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(Editor’s Note: NCQA makes Quality Compass® data available to the media at no charge. Republication of the data, or of any analysis based on the data, is embargoed until September 23, the release date of NCQA’s State of Health Care Quality report. Reporters interested in producing local report cards should contact NCQA’s Communications Department at (202) 955-3518 to discuss data needs.)