Clinical Excellence

October 8, 2009

Kaiser Permanente Leads the Nation in Eight Quality Measures

Kaiser Permanente leads the nation among all reporting health plans with top marks in eight quality measures. These conclusions were based on information in the 2009 National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Quality Compass® data.

Kaiser Permanente Georgia received top marks for childhood immunization status — combo 3 (includes diphtheria, polio, MMR [mumps, measles, and rubella], HIB [haemophilus influenza type B] meningitis, hepatitis B, and varicella [chicken pox]), chlamydia screening, and LDL (cholesterol) screening in patients with coronary artery disease. Kaiser Permanente of Colorado leads the nation with appropriate use of medications for people with asthma (ages 18 – 56), and antidepressant medication management. Kaiser Permanente Hawaii leads the nation for breast cancer screening, and monitoring of diabetics for nephropathy (a potentially life-threatening complication as a result of long-term, poorly controlled diabetes). Kaiser Permanente Northern California excelled in blood pressure control for diabetics.

The NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality.

“At Kaiser Permanente, we believe that third-party reporting of clinical quality helps consumers make informed choices about their health and improves the quality of care for everyone,” said Jed Weissberg, MD, senior vice president, Quality and Care Delivery Excellence, Kaiser Permanente. “The NCQA report demonstrates the exceptional commitment to quality and teamwork of our physicians and staff and also reinforces the value of Kaiser Permanente’s electronic medical record, Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®, which allows every clinical professional from the nurses to the physicians to coordinate the care of our members, including timely screenings, medication and specialty care, chronic disease management, and immunizations.”

The NCQA data provides evidence-based measures that reflect the quality of health plans and are the most widely used set of measures reflecting ambulatory clinical quality in the United States. As such, Kaiser Permanente uses the data to set numeric targets to improve performance and monitor standards of care. Kaiser Permanente’s nation-leading scores in eight measures from NCQA’s Quality Compass® are a result of expert care and medical teams 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 innovation, clinical research, health education and the support of community health.

NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the performance tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation’s health plans. Consumers can easily access organization’s NCQA Accreditation, Certification statuses and Recognition statuses and other information on health care quality on NCQA’s Web site at www.ncqa.org/reportcards.aspx, or by calling NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585.

*The source for data contained in this publication is Quality Compass® 2009 and is used with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).  Quality Compass 2009 includes certain CAHPS data. Any data display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion based on these data is solely that of the authors, and NCQA specifically disclaims responsibility for any such display, analysis, interpretation, or conclusion. Quality Compass is a registered trademark of NCQA. CAHPS® is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

HEDIS is a registered trademark of NCQA.