Better managed care

OB/GYN News, Nov 15, 2001 by Sally Peters

Health plans are registering improvements in care and service across the board, especially in the areas of controlling or preventing disease, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) says in its fifth annual State of Managed Care Quality report. Plans reported their highest performance gains in newer measures such as cholesterol control rates, which rose from 45% in 1999 to 53% in 2000.

The portion of diabetes patients with properly controlled low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels improved from 37% to 44%. Gaps between high-performing and low-performing health plans also seem to be shrinking. For example, plans in the 10th percentile raised their average rate of varicella immunizations from 50% to 58%. The report is based on data collected for NCQA's database of managed care information. -Sally Peters with staff reports