Partnership to provide health plans with quality ratings for physicians and
providers; preferred access to co-branded credit card program
WASHINGTON, June 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- America's Health
Insurance Plans (AHIP) has announced that HealthGrades has been selected as
an AHIP Solutions partner. The partnership will provide health plan members
with access to HealthGrades' independent quality ratings for providers and
physicians and give health plans preferred access to HealthGrades' new co-
branded credit card program.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040830/AHIPLOGO )
"HealthGrades' quality ratings provide our member companies with a
valuable resource to improve the quality of care and lower health care
costs," said Karen Ignagni, President and CEO of AHIP. "Their co-branded
credit card program is an innovative tool to incentivize consumers to
engage in healthy living."
HealthGrades is a leading health care ratings organization, providing a
range of products and services to consumers, health plans, employers, and
hospitals. They provide nationwide hospital ratings for 95 procedures and
diagnoses, profiles of all practicing physicians, and nursing home and home
health agency ratings.
Their Health Management Suite provides a number of consumer decision-
support tools, including in-depth quality guides on health care providers,
medical cost calculators, and health optimization tools. Individuals
typically gain free access to these tools from their health plan's intranet
or website. Guided by an innovative "online consultant" that provides
on-demand video assistance, users are directed to high-quality health care
providers and are given tools to manage their personal health care
finances.
"Our suite of decision-support tools help guide health plan members to
better care at lower costs," said HealthGrades Executive Vice President
Steve Wood, PhD.
Member companies will also have preferred access to HealthGrades' co-
branded credit card program called LifeRewards(TM) through their new
Healthcare Credit Solutions division. Card holders earn points, rewards,
and discounts from their normal everyday purchases and can apply them to
health- related expenses, such as co-payments, deductibles, health club
memberships, and prescription and over-the-counter drug purchases. Earned
points can also be converted into funds and electronically transferred into
a high deductible insurance program account, such as a Health Savings
Account.
"Our new co-branded credit card program helps build brand loyalty while
providing a new source of revenue and increasing member satisfaction," said
Wood.
The AHIP Solutions program identifies and strategically partners with
the most capable and leading vendors to provide their services and products
to AHIP member companies. For more on AHIP Solutions partners and programs
visit http://www.ahipsolutions.org.
More information about HealthGrades' Health Management Suite is
available at http://www.healthgrades.com/employers and information about
Healthcare Credit Solutions is available at
http://www.healthcarecreditsolutions.com.
AHIP is the national trade association representing nearly 1,300 member
companies providing health insurance coverage to more than 200 million
Americans.
Health Grades, Inc. is the leading healthcare ratings organization,
providing ratings and profiles of hospitals, nursing homes and physicians.
Millions of consumers and many of the nation's largest employers, health
plans and hospitals rely on HealthGrades' independent ratings and
decision-support resources to make healthcare decisions based on the
quality and cost of care.
SOURCE America's Health Insurance Plans
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Related links:
http://www.ahip.org
http://www.ahipsolutions.org
http://www.healthgrades.com/employers
http://www.healthcarecreditsolutions.com
Photo Notes:http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040830/AHIPLOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org PRN Photo Desk
photodesk@prnewswire.com
CONTACT:
Mohit Ghose of AHIP, +1-202-778-8494; Scott
Shapiro of HealthGrades, +1-720-963-6584
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