WELLESLEY, Mass., Dec. 15 /PRNewswire/ -- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care’s First Seniority plan is the #1 Medicare health plan in America for clinical quality, according the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA announced earlier this year that Harvard Pilgrim is also the #1 health plan in America for both member satisfaction and clinical quality for its commercial plans.
“We’re delighted that NCQA has named our First Seniority program as the top Medicare plan in the country,” said Charles D. Baker, President and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care. “We were one of the first health plans in the country to enroll seniors, and we’ve worked very hard to provide all of our members -- of any age -- with high quality and great value.”
NCQA identified the nation’s best Medicare plans on a “Top 10" list designed to recognize industry leaders and draw consumer attention to the issue of health plan quality. “Quality information is especially important for the elderly who participate in the Medicare program; it can help them make more informed health plan choices,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Harvard Pilgrim and the other plans on the Top Ten list set a high bar -- they are a model for the rest of the country.”
Harvard Pilgrim offers its First Seniority Medicare HMO to more than 35,000 seniors in Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Suffolk counties and in parts of Hillsborough County in New Hampshire. The First Seniority plan covers many services not covered by Medicare or by many Medicare Supplemental plans, such as preventive services, eyewear and hearing aids.
J.D. Power and Associates has also recognized Harvard Pilgrim as a Distinguished Health Plan for providing “An Outstanding Member Experience” to its HMO and PPO members. Harvard Pilgrim is the first health plan to achieve this distinction for HMO members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
The NCQA is a private, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. The organization is widely recognized by employers, consumers and others as the most trusted, reliable source of information about the quality of the nation’s health care system. Additional information on the NCQA can be found at http://www.ncqa.org/.
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is a not-for-profit health plan with approximately 800,000 members and a network of more than 22,000 doctors and 130 hospitals. Harvard Pilgrim provides innovative approaches to health improvement and disease management, unique online tools that speed and simplify key transactions for employers and providers and personalized health support at http://www.harvardpilgrim.org/.
The source for this data is Quality Compass(R) 2004 and is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Quality Compass is a registered trademark of NCQA. NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality.
Contact: Sharon Torgerson (617) 509-7458 sharon_torgerson@hphc.org
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care
CONTACT: Sharon Torgerson of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, +1-617-509-7458, sharon_torgerson@hphc.org