NCQA program targets ew health plans

The demand for quality information has prompted the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in Washington, DC, to set up a separate accreditation program for new health plans.

Existing managed care organization accreditation standards required health plans to show quality improvement over time, which meant they had to be at least 18 months old. The Accreditation Standards for New Health Plans is geared toward plans that are less than two years old and stresses consumer protections, NCQA reports. t