MEDIA RELEASE

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii continued to demonstrate strong commitment to quality and service, ranking as the number one health plan in the state and among the top 20 health plans in the nation, according to the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s 2012 ranking of health plans in the U.S.

The “NCQA’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012-2013” report is published annually and ranks health plans in three categories: Medicare, Medicaid and Private (Commercial).

Kaiser Permanente Hawaii plans are the highest rated in the state. Their commercial plan jumped 18 spots to No. 19 in the nation (out of 474 plans), Medicare plan ranked No. 7 in the nation (out of 395 plans) and Medicaid plan retains its 2011 position as No. 2 in the nation (out of 115 eligible plans).

“Being recognized by the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care provides purchasers and consumers with an unprecedented ability to evaluate the quality of different health plans along a variety of important dimensions, and to make their health plan decisions based on demonstrated value rather than simply on cost,” said Kaiser Permanente Hawaii’s Vice President of Quality, Safety and Service, Susan Murray. “Our high standing in this year’s report demonstrates our commitment to providing our members with the highest quality care.”

A key area of focus has been Kaiser Permanente’s increasing use of health information technology and its integrated electronic health record, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, which is the largest private electronic health record in the world.

KP HealthConnect provides members with convenient, 24/7 access to their personal health information and to their care teams, with goals of increasing self-management and improving health outcomes.

Kaiser Permanent’s model of care continues to be recognized as industry leading. In the “NCQA’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012–2013” all eight Kaiser Permanente regions are among the top 40 Private (Commercial) plans, seven of its regions are in the top 20 Medicare plans and Hawaii is the No. 2 Medicaid plan in the nation.

Now in its eighth year, the “NCQA’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012-2013” is based on combined scores for health plans in NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set, commonly called HEDIS; the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or CAHPS; and NCQA Accreditation standard scores. Consumers and employers assess plans prior to annual enrollment periods.

— Find out more:
www.ncqa.org