Foundation Health Systems Contracts With Ucla School Of Public Health To Conduct Ncqa Member Satisfaction Survey

Business Wire, May 21, 1997

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 1997--Foundation Health Systems, Inc. (NYSE:FHS) (FHS) has contracted with the University of California (UCLA) School of Public Health (SPH) to survey member satisfaction with several of its health plans, including QualMed-Colorado, QualMed-New Mexico, QualMed-Oregon, QualMed-Bellevue, QualMed-Spokane, QualMed-Philadelphia, QualMed-San Luis Valley, M.D. Health Plan, First Option Health Plan and Advantage Health Plans.

Member satisfaction with the care, services and features offered by their plan, as well as the status of their own health, will be among the factors assessed. SPH will use the new state-of-the-art survey instrument, HEDIS 3.0 Member Satisfaction Survey, developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a not-for-profit organization that accredits health maintenance organizations (HMOs). Regarded as the national standard for measuring managed care performance, HEDIS is specifically designed to help health care consumers and purchasers choose among the different plans on the market by providing criteria that show how well an HMO cares for its members.

In comparison with earlier versions, the new 3.0 version of HEDIS is more outcomes (results) oriented in that it focuses on measuring how well patients are able to function in their daily lives. It also covers a wider spectrum of health care issues, ranging from prevention and early detection to acute and chronic care for all ages: children, adolescents, adults, and seniors. Performance is measured for: effectiveness of care for both the ill and the well, accessibility and availability of care, satisfaction with the experience of care, the cost of care, plan stability (including physician turnover and member disenrollment), use of services (such as well-child and adolescent well-care visits) and other important factors. Another feature of the new survey is that it assists health plans in improving their performance by targeting areas for improvement and measuring progress in all areas.

"Our goal is to improve the quality of life and health of the members of our health plans," said Antonio Legorreta, M.D., FHS vice president, quality initiatives. "This new survey will allow our members to tell us directly about their own health care experiences." Dr. Legorreta is a world leader in outcomes research and management, disease prevention and quality improvement programs for managed care.

"We selected the UCLA School of Public Health for this important project because of their excellent academic reputation," Dr. Legorreta said. Celebrating its 35th anniversary, the school is consistently ranked among the top ten schools of public health in the nation. SPH educates leaders for private and public health systems, conducts research to improve conditions for a healthy community and provides many services to the community.

FHS is the nation's fourth-largest publicly traded managed health care company. Its mission is to enhance quality of life for its customers by offering products distinguished by their quality, service and affordability. The company's HMO, insured PPO and government contracts subsidiaries provide health benefits to nearly five million individuals in 17 states through group, individual, Medicare risk, Medicaid and CHAMPUS programs. FHS subsidiaries also offer managed health care products related to workers' compensation, PPO networks, behavioral health, 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. -0- HEDIS is a registered trademark of the National Committee for Quality Assurance.

CONTACT: Foundation Health Systems

Investors: David Olson

(818) 719-6978

http://www.hsintl.com

dolson@hsintl.com

or

Media: Kurt Davis

(916) 631-5288

Kurt_D_Davis@ccmail.fh.com