Back Pain, Sore Neck, Chiropractor

Dimond Chiropractic of Armstrong County, PA

HMOs get higher marks on California report card

Most of the state's largest HMOs posted improvements in customer satisfaction, but California's latest Health Care Quality Report Card shows others still fall short on some measures.

The annual report released Tuesday by the state-run Office of the Patient Advocate evaluates California's nine largest health maintenance organizations, which serve about 12 million enrollees, and more than 200 medical groups across the state.

Western Health Advantage, which began as a partnership between the University of California, Davis, and Catholic Healthcare West, was among three HMOs garnering the top, four-star ranking in customer satisfaction. PacifiCare of California and Kaiser Permanente's Southern California region were the others. Kaiser's Northern California operations received a three-star rating, as did Health Net, Anthem Blue Cross and Aetna.

The two Kaiser divisions, north and south, were the only HMOs to receive four stars in meeting national standard of care standards.

The Woodland Healthcare medical group and several Northern California groups under the banner of Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health received top ranking.

Detailed ratings can be found online at www.opa.ca.gov. The Web site allows users to compare health plans based on survey data. It does not, however, provide information on cost.

"For the 18 million Californians who rely on HMOs for their health care, knowing how their health plan rates on various indicators will help them make better health care decisions," said Sandra Perez, director of the Office of the Patient Advocate.

Ratings were compiled from clinical quality measures, based on criteria from a national accreditation agency. Some key areas that need work, according to the report:

• Nearly half of privately insured children wrongly receive antibiotics for conditions that the drugs are ineffective in treating, such as sore throats.

• Only about 60 percent of those needing continuous mental health service receive follow-up care.

• Screenings for chlamydia, most commonly spread through sexual contact, is being performed more frequently, but the screening rate is still below 50 percent.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.