Health Net Teams with HealthShare Technology to Launch New Online Hospital Comparison System.Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2002 Members Empowered to Take Active Role in Assessing Health Care Quality and Comparing Hospital Charges To help members and their physicians better assess hospital quality and compare charges, Health Net, Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :HNT HNT Hostage Negotiation Team ) today announced the rollout of a new interactive, Web-based hospital comparison system. The system allows members to take an active role in assessing the relative quality and charges of hospitals. A link has been added to Health Net health plans' Web sites to allow for easy access to the new "Hospital Comparison Report." The Hospital Comparison Report helps members determine -- for a particular medical condition or procedure -- which hospitals score highest on key evaluation measures including: the volume of patients the hospital treats for a procedure or condition, unfavorable outcomes, mortality rate, length of stay and hospital charges. To bring the Hospital Comparison Report to members and providers, Health Net teamed with Massachusetts-based HealthShare Technology, which produced the Report for Health Net. HealthShare is a leading provider of analytical tools to the health care industry. For the past ten years, HealthShare has worked closely with hospitals to refine its analytical approach. HealthShare won the "2001 Mercury Award for Excellence in Content for Consumers" presented by the National Business Coalition on Health. HealthShare's database and software are notable in the industry in that they provide comparisons of hospital mortality rates based on actual severity-adjusted data, as well as complication rate comparisons based on 13 quality indicators. "Consumers want to use health care services wisely. Employers are demanding in-depth comparative information to ensure that health care services offered to their employees are high quality and affordable," said Jay Gellert Jay Gellert (born 1956 in New York City, New York) is the current CEO and President of Health Net, Inc. , president and chief executive office of Health Net, Inc. "Hospital services currently represent the fastest-growing component of overall health care costs, and the Hospital Comparison Report will help Health Net members and their physicians compare hospitals by providing an objective rating system based on both quality and costs." The Report can deliver -- within seconds -- a customized comparison of up to eight hospitals in a given geographic area for more than 50 medical procedures and conditions -- ranging from colon surgery to kidney transplant kidney transplant or renal transplant Replacement of a diseased or damaged kidney with one from a living relative or a legally dead donor. The former's tissue type is more likely to match, reducing the chance of rejection; but removal puts the donor at risk, to angioplasty to cesarean section cesarean section (sĭzâr`ēən), delivery of an infant by surgical removal from the uterus through an abdominal incision. The operation is of ancient origin: indeed, the name derives from the legend that Julius Caesar was born in this and more. The user has the option of ranking the importance of various evaluation measures. Hospital survey results are also provided from The Leapfrog Group. These results focus on three specific proven patient-safety practices for hospitals: patient volume for high-risk procedures, ICU ICU intensive care unit. ICU abbr. intensive care unit ICU see intensive care unit. ICU physician staffing and use of computerized physician-order entry systems. Health Net released the Hospital Comparison Report in October to its 687 affiliated hospitals in Arizona List of hospitals in Arizona (U.S. state), sorted by hospital name.
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington to give them the opportunity to review it in advance. "By offering our physicians and members direct access to information about meaningful differences among hospitals, they can make more informed choices," said Tim Moore For other uses, see Tim and Moore (surname). People called Tim Moore include:
All of the HealthShare data comes from public sources, including All Payer inpatient discharge data for Arizona, California, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Washington; and MEDPAR MEDPAR Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (Medicare) MEDPAR Medical Patient Accounting and Reporting (Medicare) data for Connecticut and Oregon. To provide a meaningful comparison, the mortality, length-of-stay and charges are adjusted for severity of illness, based upon Refined Diagnostic Related Groups developed by the Health Systems Management Group at Yale University Yale University, at New Haven, Conn.; coeducational. Chartered as a collegiate school for men in 1701 largely as a result of the efforts of James Pierpont, it opened at Killingworth (now Clinton) in 1702, moved (1707) to Saybrook (now Old Saybrook), and in 1716 was for the Health Care Financing Administration Health Care Financing Administration, n.pr department in the U.S. agency of Health and Human Services responsible for the oversight of the Medicaid and Medicare benefit programs, including guidelines, payment, and coverage policies. (now called The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services). "The Leapfrog Group selected HealthShare Technology as a data dissemination partner to make available our comparative information on proven patient-safety practices," said Suzanne Delbanco, Executive Director of The Leapfrog Group, an independent group that assesses patient-safety measures and quality of care. "We believe that providing comparative hospital information is important in helping consumers make informed health-care decisions when faced with the need for hospitalization." Certain matters discussed in this release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, that involve risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical information provided herein may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, the risks discussed in the "Cautionary Statements" section included within the Company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K Form 10-K A report required by the SEC from exchange-listed companies that provides for annual disclosure of certain financial information. Form 10-K See 10-K. filed with the SEC and the risks discussed in the Company's other filings with the SEC. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which reflect management's analysis, judgment, belief or expectation only as of the date hereof. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly revise these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances that arise after the date hereof. Health Net, Inc. is one of the nation's largest publicly traded managed health care companies. Its mission is to help people be healthy, secure and comfortable. The company's HMO HMO health maintenance organization. HMO n. A corporation that is financed by insurance premiums and has member physicians and professional staff who provide curative and preventive medicine within certain financial, , insured PPO PPO abbr. preferred provider organization PPO Managed care Preferred provider organization, see there Infectious disease Pleuropneumonia-like organism, see there and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to approximately 5.3 million individuals in 15 states through group, individual, Medicare, Medicaid and TRICARE programs. Health Net's subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to behavioral health Behavioral health was first used in the 1980's to name the combination of the fields mental health and substance abuse. As an example, an organization serving both mental health and substance abuse clients might refer to its practice as behavioral health or , dental, vision and prescription drugs, and offer managed health care product coordination for multi-region employers and administrative services for medical groups and self-funded benefits programs. For more information on Health Net, Inc., please visit the company's Web site at www.health.net. |
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