Most Top-Quality Health Plans Are Nonprofits, According to NCQA and U.S. News Rankings; Nonprofit Health Insurers Prevalent in 2005 Quality Rankings of Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid HMOs.WASHINGTON -- Most top-quality HMOs in the U.S. are offered by nonprofit A corporation or an association that conducts business for the benefit of the general public without shareholders and without a profit motive. Nonprofits are also called not-for-profit corporations. Nonprofit corporations are created according to state law. health plans, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. new rankings released by the National Committee for Quality Assurance National Committee for Quality Assurance Medical practice A private, not-for-profit organization which has become the leading accreditor of managed care plans; in site visits, NCQA reviewers evaluate a managed care plan in terms of quality management, physicians' and featured in this week's U.S. News and World Report. NCQA NCQA National Committee on Quality Assurance, see there collects data from hundreds of health plans each year and analyzes each plan's performance on dozens of objective measures of effective clinical care and member satisfaction. The Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Healthcare is composed of nonprofit health plans, hospitals and others dedicated to preserving and enhancing the abilities of nonprofit healthcare organizations to serve society and their individual communities, not stockholders. Bruce McPherson
Bruce A. McPherson (born January 7, 1944) is a California politician, who was the 30th California Secretary of State, sworn in March 30, 2005. , executive director of the Alliance, said that the Alliance had analyzed the U.S. News/NCQA rankings and found that: --Among commercial HMOs, 68 percent of the top 50 are nonprofits. --Among Medicare HMOs, 84 percent of the top 25 are nonprofits. --Among Medicaid HMOs, 72 percent of the top 25 are nonprofits. "We are delighted that U.S. News is providing such extensive coverage to the annual NCQA report, which is one of the best resources available to help employers, individuals and families make informed choices about health plans," McPherson said. "We encourage both organizations to perform their own analyses of possible correlations between quality and ownership status." Details on the Rankings --(Commercial HMOs) For 257 commercial HMOs that are ranked, 15 of the top 20 and 34 of the top 50 are nonprofit. They include HMOs of Alliance members Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Shield A US not-for-profit health care insurer that is a reimbursement intermediary for physicians. Cf Blue Cross. of Massachusetts (ranked 8), the Lifetime Healthcare Companies in New York New York, state, United States 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 (Excellus BlueCross BlueShield ranked 12 and Univera Healthcare ranked 14), the Geisinger Health System The Geisinger Health System (GHS) is a physician-led health care system of northeastern and central Pennsylvania with headquarters located in Danville, Pennsylvania. (Geisinger Health ranked 15), and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (Capital Health Plan ranked 16). --(Medicare HMOs) For 131 Medicare HMOS that are ranked, 18 of the top 25 are nonprofits. They include HMOs of Alliance members Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida (Capital Health Plan ranked 4), Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (ranked 5), and the Lifetime Healthcare Companies (Excellus BlueCross BlueShield ranked 20 and Univera Healthcare ranked 24) --(Medicaid HMOs) For the 58 Medicaid HMOs that are ranked, 18 of the top 25 are nonprofit, including an 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, of Alliance member the Lifetime Healthcare Companies (Excellus BlueCross BlueShield ranked 11). U.S. News notes that at least 130 of the 500 large HMOs surveyed by NCQA chose to opt out of the ranking process, by not allowing publication of their quality data or by not providing data. In a separate analysis, NCQA found that these "non-reporters" as a group do not match the reporting group in core quality measures. "This finding buttresses the significance of these rankings," said McPherson. About the Alliance The Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Healthcare is dedicated to preserving and enhancing the abilities of nonprofit healthcare organizations to serve society and their individual communities. Through research, public education, and advocacy, the Alliance seeks to provide a strong, cohesive and persistent "voice" for a wide range of nonprofit healthcare organizations sharing many common goals and challenges, including hospitals, health insurers, nursing homes, malpractice malpractice, failure to provide professional services with the skill usually exhibited by responsible and careful members of the profession, resulting in injury, loss, or damage to the party contracting those services. liability insurers, home care providers, and others. Through educational forums, guidelines and other means the Alliance also strives to help its members perform better in carrying out their special missions. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion