May 3, 2004

NCQA RELEASES 2003 ANNUAL REPORT: THE VALUE OF CARE AND CARING ABOUT VALUE

Focus on value reflects growing interest among employers, consumers

WASHINGTON—The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today released its 2003 annual report, The Value of Care and Caring About Value. Employers have shown increasing interest in health care value in recent years and the push to consumer-directed health plans is expected to generate similar interest among consumers. Nevertheless, little such information presently exists.

"Questions about value are being asked, particularly among purchasers, because we are wasting tremendous resources in our health care system, and sometimes harming patients as well," said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. "Medical technologies, the types of health plans being offered, the role of the patient, and the way we buy health care have all been transformed. To continue to drive quality improvement, NCQA’s measures and methods must evolve accordingly. This means measuring value."

Featured in this year’s report is an interview with noted Harvard health economist, Joseph Newhouse, Ph.D., who explains how and why the health care sector often fails to reward value and what we need to do about it. Also included in the report are:

• An essay looking at how employers, policy makers, consumers and others have different perspectives on health care value.
• A profile of the Veterans Health System, which has invested heavily in medical information technology leading to improvement in clinical quality and cost savings.
• An overview of NCQA’s effort to adapt its accreditation and measurement programs to better meet the information needs of today’s market.

NCQA’s 2003 Annual Report is now available on NCQA’s Web site at http://www.ncqa.org/. Printed copies of the report will be mailed to organizations that participate in or support NCQA’s programs and activities in the near future.

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 manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the performance measurement tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation’s health plans. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web and the media in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.

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