Did your members add you to the honor roll?
These 13 HMOs scored well with consumers
Thirteen health maintenance organizations (HMOs) recently were ranked as the nation’s best through the Sachs HMO Honor Roll. The annual honor roll, created by Sachs Group, a health care information company in Evanston, IL, recognizes HMOs rated as superior by their members in four key areas: plan services, medical care, network efficiency, and value and loyalty.
After surveying 900,000 consumers in 30 major markets nationwide, the following HMOs made the 1997 honor roll:
• ChoiceCare Health Plans in Cincinnati;
• Harris Methodist Health Plan in Dallas;
• Independence Blue Cross in Philadelphia;
• Kaiser Permanente in Atlanta;
• Kaiser Permanente of California in Sacramento, San Francisco, San Diego, and Los Angeles;
• Kaiser Permanente of Washington, DC;
• M-Plan of Indianapolis;
• Oxford Health Plans in New York City;
• Physicians Health Services in New York City;
• Prudential Healthcare in Orlando, FL;
• Tufts Health Plan in Boston;
• United HealthCare of Texas in Houston;
• United HealthCare of the Midwest in St. Louis.
How can you help your HMO make the honor roll next year? Encourage member participation in plan services, says Bob Mayo, senior vice president of Sachs Group. Sachs finds that as managed care markets mature, consumers become more satisfied with plan services, which managed care plans have the ability to control, and less satisfied with the quality of medical care, which is more difficult for managed care plans to control, he notes.
To score higher on member satisfaction, Mayo recommends that managed care plans encourage members to participate in the plan’s activities and services, such as affinity programs that reward members with prizes for using services appropriately.
[Editor’s note: For more information about the Sachs Honor Roll and consumer satisfaction with health plans, call Sachs Group at: (800) 366-7526.]
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