PO Box 41015

Washington, DC20018

877-299-6497

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Contact: Bruce McPherson

877-299-6497

MOST TOP-QUALITY HEALTH PLANS ARE NONPROFITS, LATEST RANKNGS BY NCQA AND U.S. NEWS SHOW FOR THE 5TH STRAIGHT YEAR

WASHINGTON– Once again, most top-quality health plans in the U.S. are offered by nonprofit organizations, based on 2009 rankings released this month by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and featured in the latest issue of U.S. News & World Report.

This finding has held for all five years that these rankings have been released.

NCQA collects data from hundreds of health plans each year and analyzes each plan’s performance on dozens of objective measures of effective prevention, treatment, and member satisfaction. This year 50 measures were used for commercial plans, 44 for Medicare plans, and 40 for Medicaid plans. A 1-to-5 scale was used on each measure. The ranked plans are HMO or HMO-POS (point-of- service) plans.

Bruce McPherson, President of the Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care, said that the Alliance had analyzed these latest rankings and found the quality performance of nonprofit health plans to be very impressive again this year:

  • 43% of the 166 Medicareplans reportingare nonprofit, yet:
  • 100% of the Top Ten are nonprofit
  • 95% of the Top Twentyare nonprofit
  • 76% of the Top 25th Percentile are nonprofit
  • 37% of the 82 Medicaid plans reportingare nonprofit, yet:
  • 100% of the Top Ten are nonprofit
  • 90% of the Top Twenty and of the Top 25th Percentileare nonprofit
  • 37% of the 239 Commercial plans reporting are nonprofit, yet:
  • 80% of the Top Ten are nonprofit
  • 60% of the Top Twenty are nonprofit
  • 57% of the Top 25th Percentile are nonprofit

“We are delighted that U.S. News is again this year providing such extensive coverage to the annual NCQA report, which is one of the best resources available to help employers, government and consumers make informed choices about health plans,” McPherson said. “We encourage researchers both within and outside these organizations to perform their own analyses of correlations between quality and ownership status.”

The Alliance for Advancing Nonprofit Health Care represents nonprofit health plans, hospitals, nursing homes, community health centers, and other health care providers dedicated to preserving a robust nonprofit health sector while enhancing its performance in serving communities and society as a whole.

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