QUALITY ASSURANCE: NCQA RELEASES NEW DATABASE
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) releasedThis is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
"Quality Compass" today, a new national database comparing
information about the health care quality of hundreds of managed
care plans. According to NCQA, the database "marks a quantum
leap in efforts to make information about health plan quality
more accessible to employers, consultants, consumers and health
plans." Quality Compass brings together, for the first time,
data from 226 plans that collectively cover about 28 million
Americans and allows NCQA to "generate national averages,
regional averages and benchmarks for various aspects of plan
performance." NCQA President Margaret O'Kane said, "Quality
Compass reports will make it possible for thousands of key
decision makers to compare the quality of hundreds of health
plans in a way that was previously unthinkable. That provides a
powerful incentive for plans to improve and compete on the basis
of quality."
WHAT'S IN THERE: NCQA's health plan "accreditation status
information" and data from its Healthplan Employer Data and
Information Set (HEDIS), version 2.5, are used in this initial
version of Quality Compass. In 1997, HEDIS 3.0 measures -- which
include member satisfaction surveys and address pressing public
health concerns -- will be included in the Quality Compass
database, along with NCQA Accreditation Summary Reports. In
future versions, which will be updated semi-annually, NCQA hopes
to offer direct, electronic access to the database. Quality
Compass is available in hard copy or on CD-ROM. Hard copy
reports are divided into four regions -- Eastern, Western, Mid-
West and Southern -- and cost $500 each. The CD-ROM version
starts at $800 for data on 25 plans and ranges up to $3,200 for
the entire database.
ONE FOR THE LITTLE GUY: NCQA notes that Quality Compass
will allow small and mid-size companies to access comparative
health plan data that they could not afford to collect on their
own. "Quality Compass makes available a wealth of information
about quality that was previously reserved for large employers
who could afford to acquire it from consultants or obtain it on
their own. Now, smaller organizations will be able to more
easily make informed, value-based purchasing decisions about
health coverage, rather than deciding on cost alone," said Elisa
Hamill, CEO of The Alliance, a Colorado-based private health
insurance purchasing cooperative.
PROVIDER PROTECTOR: Quality Compass delivers HEDIS and
accreditation data in a more "comprehensive, economical source"
than before, according to NCQA. In the past, employers,
consultants and health plans seeking performance information from
other companies had to collect and organize it on their own.
Suzanne Mercure, benefits administration manager for Southern
California Edison, said, "It is grossly inefficient for employers
to collect this type of information on our own, and even if we
do, we don't have reliable national or regional information for
comparison. NCQA's Quality Compass offers a solution to both
problems: a single, reliable source for data, complete with
national and regional benchmark information."
CONSUMER HELPER: Health care consumers are expected to gain
access to the reports through their employer, health plan, union
or library copy. In addition, NCQA is hoping that the media will
"play a key role in presenting the data to consumers and helping
them understand it." Andrew Webber of the Consumer Coalition for
Quality Health Care, said that Quality Compass will introduce
quality measures into the consumer purchasing equation that has
typically included "cost, benefits and provider network" in the
past, adding, "The bottom line is that we'll all receive better
care if plans start to compete on quality" (NCQA release, 8/21).