Kaiser Permanente Southern California Medicare Health Plan Rated No. 1 in National Quality Rankings by NCQA

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Kaiser Permanente Southern California’s Medicare Plan is ranked No. 1 in the nation by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality.

“NCQA’S Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012–2013.”

“We are honored to be named by NCQA as the No. 1 top ranking Medicare health plan in the nation,” said Edward M. Ellison, MD, executive medical director of the Southern California Permanente Medical Group. “This recognition is the result of the dedication that our physicians, nurses and care teams demonstrate every day in providing high-quality health care to our members. Our scores are an acknowledgment of our leadership in health care and are a critical benchmark for successful health plans today.”

“NCQA is the gold standard in measuring care and service,” said Benjamin Chu, MD, MPH, MACP, group president for Kaiser Permanente Southern California and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii. "We have outstanding clinicians and staff, and with our integrated health care model, our electronic medical record system and our chronic disease management programs, we are setting the pace for high quality health care. The real winners today are our members and the communities we serve.”

Nearly 400 Medicare programs and more than 470 private health plans across the nation were ranked for member satisfaction, treatment and prevention.

For the second year in a row, Kaiser Permanente has the top three national Medicare plans, with Colorado No. 2, and Northern California No. 3. All eight Kaiser Permanente regions are in the top 7 percent of all ranked Medicare plans, and are also in the top 9 percent of all ranked commercial plans. Kaiser Permanente Southern California stepped up to 10th place in the “NCQA’S Private Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2012–2013.”

NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA is the only health plan accreditation program that requires HEDIS and CAHPS reporting. NCQA goes an important step further by scoring the results of those measures as part of its accreditation decision. This performance-based approach is widely considered to be the “Gold Standard” of accreditation.

The NCQA complete health-plan rankings are available at www.ncqa.org/rankings and will be published on the Consumer Reports website and in the magazine’s November print edition on approximately September 27.

About the National Committee for Quality Assurance

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers and researchers.

About Kaiser Permanente Southern California

Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high quality, affordable health care services to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 3.5 million members in Southern California. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.