NCQA Awards Neighborhood Health Plan "Excellent" Accredited Status
Boston, MA -- July, 22, 2008 -- Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) announced today that it has been awarded an Accredited status of "Excellent" for three years for both its Medicaid and Commercial products from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), an independent, nonprofit organization that assesses and reports on the quality of the nation's managed care plans. NHP's MCO Accreditation is based on a voluntary review of how a health plan ensures that its members are receiving high-quality care.
"We are extremely proud of this achievement" said Deborah Enos, President and CEO, of NHP. "This truly reflects NHP's long-standing commitment to bring high quality care to the members we serve. The dedication of our staff and our entire provider network has enabled us to attain this outstanding recognition by NCQA."
The NCQA Accreditation survey process includes on- and off-site evaluations of over 60 standards and selected HEDIS performance measures conducted by a team of physicians and managed care experts. A committee of physicians analyzes the team's finding and assigns an Accreditation level based on the performance level of the plan being evaluated to NCQA's standards.
"A health plan can only be as good as the care it provides its members," said Paul Mendis, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, of NHP. "and this accreditation serves to epitomize the meaning of true excellence with regard to our clinical care management, quality service measures, and continued commitment to the good health of our members."
The NCQA Accreditation process evaluates how well a health plan manages quality throughout every part of its delivery system -- physicians, hospitals, affiliated providers, and administrative services -- to continuously improve health care for its members. More than three-quarters of Americans enrolled in HMOs are in plans that have been reviewed by NCQA, and many employers are now mandating Accreditation of the plans they offer their employees. No comparable evaluation exists for fee-for-service health care.
Neighborhood Health Plan (NHP) provides health care programs and related services to individuals receiving benefits under Medicaid, through small business employer groups, and through Massachusetts' ground-breaking health care reform. Founded in 1986 by the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and the Greater Boston Forum for Health Action, NHP serves over 185,000 members statewide and has been recognized as a national leader in care for medically complex and severely disabled populations.
Press Contact: Rhian Gregory
Phone: 617-620-0517
rhian_gregory@nhp.org