National Committee for Quality Assurance Certifies McKesson's HEDIS Reporting Software

Business Wire, Feb 12, 2002

Health/Medical Writers

MARLBOROUGH, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 12, 2002

Certification Replaces Manual Source Code Inspection, Streamlines

HEDIS(R) Reporting Process

McKesson Health Solutions LLC, a business unit of McKesson Corporation, announced today that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has certified CareEnhance(TM) HealthPlan Reporter version 4.7.1.0 for 2002. CareEnhance HealthPlan Reporter is the market's leading commercially available software designed to help health plans manage the HEDIS reporting process.

Through automated testing, NCQA's Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) Software Certification(SM) program validates and then certifies software that uses health plan data to calculate HEDIS results. Because NCQA updates specifications for HEDIS reporting annually, each year the committee verifies that vendors' HEDIS reporting software produces results consistent with those specifications; McKesson served as a beta partner for NCQA in the certification process.

"This year, we had two goals for the software certification program: to offer certification to vendors earlier than last year and to add new testing areas for certification," said Alisa Ray, NCQA Assistant Vice President of Certification and Information Products. "We're pleased that we were able to meet both goals. The program now includes assessment of a reporting software's ability to sample a health plan's member population to meet our systematic sampling requirements, and we have just certified McKesson's HealthPlan Reporter."

According to Don Hufford, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Western Health Advantage, a Sacramento, California-based managed care organization, "Last year, using the NCQA-certified HealthPlan Reporter software saved our IT and quality staff valuable time in preparing our reports. Now with the 2002 software certification, we won't have to develop any codes for pulling samples -- for example, pulling out our membership satisfaction survey for CAHPS, a requirement of NCQA accreditation. That's an additional convenience for our organization."

CareEnhance HealthPlan Reporter is a component of McKesson's CareEnhance Resource Management Software (CRMS(TM)) product suite, which uses a sophisticated clinical and financial database to help measure and improve care delivery.

"We're in our fifth year of producing HealthPlan Reporter and were certified last year when NCQA began the certification program, so our product has evolved along with the HEDIS reporting process itself," said Paul Steen, M.D., Vice President of Product Management and Clinical Development for McKesson CareEnhance Products. "Naturally, we were honored that NCQA selected McKesson as a beta partner for the program."

"Hundreds of health plans submit HEDIS reports to NCQA, and last year all HealthPlan Reporter clients that submit reports were on time," reported Steen. "This year, earlier certification means they will have plenty of lead time before reports are due in June."

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. More than three-quarters of Americans enrolled in HMOs are in plans that have been reviewed by NCQA. 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.

About McKesson Corporation

McKesson Corporation is a leading provider of innovative solutions in supply, information and care management through advanced technologies and services that deliver greater return on investment and better patient outcomes for providers, payors, employers and manufacturers. With revenues of $42 billion for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2001, McKesson ranks #35 in the 2001 Fortune 500.

McKesson Health Solutions LLC offers a comprehensive suite of medical management solutions to help providers and payors better manage the cost and quality of care. Its CareEnhance(TM) and InterQual(R) products and services include clinical appropriateness criteria, outsourced disease management and nurse triage, and software tools to help manage medical management processes, provide analytic support for medical management, and support regulatory reporting processes. For more information, visit our Web site at www.CareEnhance.com.

Note to Editors: HEDIS is a registered trademark of NCQA. HEDIS Software Certification(SM) is a service mark of NCQA.