BLOOMFIELD, Conn., Sept. 23, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- According to data made public today by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), CIGNA HealthCare HMO and POS plans achieved significant gains in key measures of health care quality that resulted in more members receiving important preventive care and chronic care services in 2003. CIGNA today also announced it would begin a new quality improvement initiative aimed at achieving similar quality of care results for members in PPO plans.
“We are proud of the significant gains in quality we’ve demonstrated this year,” said W. Allen Schaffer, M.D., senior vice president and chief clinical officer for CIGNA. “These improvements represent a very real impact on the lives of individuals. Real progress is being made, and that progress is improving quality of life for our members by preventing illness and helping those with chronic illness manage their condition most effectively according to evidence-based standards.”
Schaffer said this year’s scores on quality measures continued CIGNA HealthCare’s record of making year-over-year improvements. The CIGNA HealthCare national average for indicators of quality measured this year by the NCQA increased by an average of over 10%, contributing to a three-year average improvement of over 17% and demonstrating the effectiveness of the clinical outreach programs CIGNA HealthCare provides for its members.
In addition, the NCQA named three CIGNA HealthCare plans -- CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona, CIGNA HealthCare of Colorado and CIGNA HealthCare of St. Louis -- among the “Top 5" performers in their regions for clinical quality scores.
At a news conference held today by the NCQA to release the NCQA’s “The State of Health Care Quality: 2004" report, Schaffer also said CIGNA would become the first national health care plan to voluntarily begin measuring and reporting on health care quality for members in many PPO plans. According to Schaffer, CIGNA HealthCare will conduct additional outreach to PPO members in 2005, encouraging them to receive appropriate preventive care and other health care services. Working in collaboration with the NCQA, CIGNA HealthCare will measure and report on health care quality for these members beginning in 2006.
“We are extending our quality improvement activities, measurement and HEDIS reporting to cover millions of enrollees in our PPO plans,” Dr. Schaffer said. “This new voluntary program demonstrates our commitment to making the same advances in quality for PPO members as we have achieved through our many years of participation in HEDIS.”
Schaffer said CIGNA HealthCare is committed to participation in the Health Plan Employer Data Information Set, or HEDIS(R)*, the set of standardized measures developed by the NCQA to gauge quality, and to public reporting of this information through the NCQA.
As a result of this year’s strong performance, five additional CIGNA HealthCare plans have been awarded “Excellent” Accreditation status by the NCQA, including CIGNA HealthCare MidAtlantic, Inc., CIGNA HealthCare of Texas, Inc., CIGNA HealthCare of Arizona, Inc., CIGNA HealthCare of Georgia, Inc., and CIGNA HealthCare of Connecticut, Inc. Ninety-two (92) percent of CIGNA HealthCare accredited plans have now attained an “Excellent” Accreditation rating from the NCQA.
CIGNA HealthCare, headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut, provides medical benefits through managed care and indemnity health care plans, dental coverage, behavioral health coverage, and pharmacy benefits. “CIGNA” or “CIGNA HealthCare” refers to various operating subsidiaries of CIGNA Corporation . Products and services are provided by these operating subsidiaries and not by CIGNA Corporation.
* HEDIS(R) is a registered trademark of the National Committee for
Quality Assurance (NCQA).
CIGNA HealthCare
Contact: Amy Turkington, CIGNA HealthCare, +1-860-226-3489,amy.turkington@cigna.com
Web site: http://www.cigna.com/
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