State to Expand Online HMO Report Card to Include Information on Medical Groups

The state online HMO report card, launched last year, will begin to include information on medical groups in September. The Office of the Patient Advocate has selected the Pacific Business Group on Health, a not-for-profit employer coalition, to develop the medical group report card as part of a larger campaign to help consumers make informed health care decisions. The expanded report card will include information on 81 medical groups, which provide health care services to more than 10 million state residents enrolled in point of service plans and commercial and Medicare HMOs. PBGH will take information for the report card from the 2002 Consumer Assessment Survey, which measures patient access to primary and specialty care, physician-patient relationships, quality of care and preventive care. "The new report card will provide quality indicators for medical groups, which for most HMO enrollees is their direct point of contact with the health care system," Steve McDermott, CEO of the Hill Physicians Medical Group, said. The state will offer the expanded report card online and in printed form in English, Spanish and Chinese (PBGH release, 5/15).