The quality of care for Americans enrolled in health plans that report on HEDIS quality measures improved in most areas of care in 2005, according to a new report by the National Committee for Quality Assurance. This is the seventh consecutive year of such gains. The findings showed that 77.7% of children enrolled in private health plans received all recommended immunizations, up from 72.5% in 2004; 70.3% of children in Medicaid managed care plans were immunized in accordance with clinical guidelines, up from 63.1% in 2004; and 75.5 percent of Meidcare beneficiaries who were smokers received advice to quit, a gain of nearly 11% over 2004.
The report, titled The State of Health Care Quality 2006, states that only 33% of Americans are enrolled in the type of plans that typically collect and report quality data. The report also found that significant differences persist between the performance of the healthcare system as a whole and the top accountable health plans. NCQA estimates that if the entire healthcare system performed at the level of the top plans, between 37,600 and 81,000 lives would be saved each year as well as between $2.6 billion and $3.6 billion in unnecessary hospitalization expenses.
