Kaiser Gets Top Ranking in Annual HMO Quality Scorecard
In the California Office of the Patient Advocate's annual report card, two Kaiser Permanente plans received four stars for health care quality, the highest rating attainable, the Sacramento Bee reports (McIntosh, Sacramento Bee, 11/21).
OPA released the report card Thursday (AP/San Francisco Chronicle, 11/20).
This is the first time any HMO scored a four-star rating. Kaiser Permanente's Northern and Southern California plans are rated separately (Sacramento Bee, 11/21).
How It Works
The score card rates the state's largest HMOs (Girion, Los Angeles Times, 11/21). Together, the HMOs serve 11 million members (Sacramento Bee, 11/21).
Health plans are scored on 34 quality measures categorized into nine health conditions including asthma, back pain, diabetes and heart care. This year, two new quality measures were added: alcohol and drug dependency treatment and attention deficit disorder care.
Other HMO Rankings
Overall, quality ratings for five of the HMOs improved and none dropped (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/20).
Blue Shield of California, Health Net of California, PacifiCare of California and Western Health Advantage all received three stars, indicating that the plans frequently meet clinical standards. Â
Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross and Cigna all received two stars, indicating that the plans often do not meet clinical standards (Los Angeles Times, 11/21).
Patient Satisfaction
The report card also included rankings for member satisfaction.
Kaiser, Health Net and Western Health Advantage received three stars.
Aetna, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield and PacifiCare received two stars.
Cigna got a one-star or "poor" rating from members.
Medical Group Ratings
Kaiser's medical group and Sutter Medical Group both received four-star ratings in clinical quality.
Hill Physicians Medical Group, Mercy Medical Group, Sutter Independent Physicians and the UC Davis Medical Group all got three stars.
Golden State Physicians Medical Group got two stars.
Golden State Physicians Medical Group got a two-star ranking for patient satisfaction, and all of the other groups received three stars (Sacramento Business Journal, 11/20). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.