CHARLESTON, S.C., July 22, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CIGNA HealthCare of South Carolina, Inc. announced the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has awarded a second consecutive “Excellent” three-year accreditation for its HMO and POS products. This is the top accreditation designation possible and demonstrates the CIGNA HealthCare commitment to provide access to quality health care. The NCQA is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to measuring the quality of America’s health care.
“Being accredited with an `Excellent’ rating validates our efforts to provide quality programs to our members and help them lead healthier lives,” said Scott Josephs, MD, Vice President and Medical Executive for CIGNA HealthCare of South Carolina, Inc.
NCQA accreditation is an evaluation of how a health plan helps ensure its members are receiving quality care. It includes a review of the success of health plan programs that help members get effective health care. Program results that measure clinical quality, such as the number of enrollees who receive certain disease prevention screenings, are considered in the review. CIGNA HealthCare of South Carolina, Inc. received high marks in categories measuring access to care and qualified medical providers, quality of service, how well the plan helps members stay healthy or get better if they are ill, and how well the plan helps members with a chronic condition live with that illness.
“It is partly a health plan’s members who determine whether it earns NCQA’s Excellent accreditation status. Any plan that does so should be proud of their accomplishment. It is a sign that they are delivering great service and access to great care - they’ve met the toughest test in managed care,” said Greg Pawlson, M.D., Executive Vice President, NCQA.
One example of such a program is the CIGNA Well Aware Program for Better Health(SM), a disease management program for eligible members with diabetes, heart disease, asthma, low back pain and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The program offers education and support to help empower members to gain greater control over their health. It promotes improved use of medication regimes and diagnostic testing, provides guidance and information on diet, exercise and other lifestyle factors and reinforces standards of care recommended by the member’s physician. The Well Aware program is one of the largest disease management programs in the country, with over 550,000 members currently enrolled.
CIGNA HealthCare of South Carolina underwent a single site accreditation survey with several other CIGNA HealthCare health plans in the Southeast, including CIGNA HealthCare of North Carolina, Inc., CIGNA HealthCare of Florida, Inc. and CIGNA HealthCare of Tennessee, Inc. These plans all received Excellent Accreditation.
This strong outcome follows other recent CIGNA HealthCare honors for quality. Last spring, NCQA awarded Excellent accreditation to five CIGNA HealthCare plans covering members in the Midwest markets of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas and Missouri and three CIGNA HealthCare health plans covering New England members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine. Earlier in the year, CIGNA Behavioral Health, the behavioral benefits unit of CIGNA, announced Full Accreditation as a managed behavioral health organization and an excellent score for its Chesapeake Regional Care Center in Maryland.
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 HealthCare” refers to various operating subsidiaries of CIGNA Corporation . Products and services are provided by these operating subsidiaries and not by CIGNA Corporation.
CIGNA HealthCare
Contact: Patricia Caballero, CIGNA HealthCare, +1-201-533-5028
Web site: http://www.cigna.com/
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