Achieves Distinction in 23 markets across the United States
BLOOMFIELD, Conn., March 27, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CIGNA
HealthCare has become the first national health care plan to earn
"Distinction" status across all of its 23 accredited plans for its consumer
information on physician and hospital quality and cost through the National
Committee for Quality Assurance's (NCQA's) Physician and Hospital Quality
program.
"CIGNA HealthCare is to be commended for meeting our new Physician and
Hospital Quality standards," said NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane. "By
adopting these standards, CIGNA HealthCare is providing members with
important information about physicians and hospitals within their network,
allowing members to make informed health care decisions for themselves and
their families."
Health plans seeking NCQA's distinction for physician and hospital
quality must show that they measure the quality and cost of services
provided by contracted doctors and hospitals using nationally recognized
standards endorsed by outside organizations. In addition, plans must prove
they use the information in their efforts to improve health care quality
and share the data with their customers.
To earn NCQA distinction under the Physician and Hospital Quality
standards, plans must measure physician performance using clinical measures
of quality endorsed by the National Quality Forum (NQF) and the Ambulatory
Care Quality Alliance. Plans must also base hospital performance
measurement on quality measures endorsed by NQF and the Hospital Quality
Alliance. Physician and Hospital Quality is part of NCQA's Quality Plus
program, which allows health plans to achieve voluntary distinction by
meeting tough new standards before they become mandatory.
"Providing health care consumers with well-documented, reliable
information on the quality and cost of their care is crucial to helping our
members make informed, value-based decisions to improve their health," said
Jeffrey Kang, MD, chief medical officer for CIGNA HealthCare. "Through our
efforts, we're working to help consumers make confident decisions and to
reward physicians and hospitals for their performance. These initiatives
will help improve health care quality and also help consumers and our
employer customers to manage health care costs."
CIGNA HealthCare offers a broad array of resources to help consumers
learn more about the quality and cost of their care. Some examples include:
-- Hospital Value Tool - this tool is personalized to the member's plan,
providing star-based scores for hospitals on patient outcomes and costs
for 29 procedures and conditions. The tool features estimated average
cost ranges and member-specific average out-of-pocket cost ranges by
hospital procedure.
-- Physician Quality and Cost Tool - CIGNA members can also compare
participating specialists in 21 specialties based on their performance.
Specialists are given a one to three-star score for quality and cost
using measures endorsed by or derived from independent third parties,
including NCQA.
-- CIGNA Care Designation - This designation helps distinguish physicians
within the broad provider network based on performance standards under
specific quality and cost measures in 21 specialties. Employers may
also choose an enhanced benefit option which gives members a modest
incentive to seek covered services from the designated specialists.
The CIGNA Care designation and benefit enhancement are available in 58
markets around the country.
CIGNA HealthCare has a long history and record of success in seeking
external validation of its quality improvement programs. In addition to the
new Physician and Hospital Quality distinction, all 23 of CIGNA
HealthCare's NCQA-accredited HMO and point-of-service health plans
currently hold Excellent accreditation status and have earned Distinction
for NCQA's Quality Plus Member Connections standards. The Member
Connections standards assess a plan's Web-based and telephonic consumer
decision support tools. CIGNA HealthCare was also the first national health
care plan to voluntarily commit to reporting HEDIS Effectiveness of Care
measures for its PPO plans to NCQA, and did so for 41 markets in 2006. The
company will do so again in 2007 as it pursues NCQA accreditation review
for its PPO plans, scheduled for later this year.
About CIGNA HealthCare
CIGNA HealthCare, based in Bloomfield, CT, provides medical benefits
plans, dental coverage, behavioral health coverage, pharmacy benefits and
products and services that integrate and analyze information to support
consumerism and health advocacy. "CIGNA HealthCare" refers to certain
operations of Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, which is an
operating subsidiary of CIGNA Corporation (NYSE: CI). Products and services
are provided by such operating subsidiaries, and not by CIGNA Corporation.
For more information, visit http://www.cigna.com.
About NCQA
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving
health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health
care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA's
Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is the most widely
used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to
providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data
licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make
more informed health care choices.
SOURCE CIGNA HealthCare
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.cigna.com
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/165050.html /
CONTACT:
Amy Turkington of CIGNA HealthCare,
+1-860-226-3489, or amy.turkington@cigna.com
|
