California Department of Insurance released its 2010 Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) quality of care report card. The report card, in its second year, is patterned after a similar review of health maintenance organizations conducted by the state Office of the Patient Advocate. California’s Department of Managed Health Care (DMHC) has provided a report card on Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO) since 2001. PPOs lacked a similar objective comparison. While other states collect similar data for PPOs, California is the only state to analyze it, and offer it in a consumer-friendly, interactive format that includes summary ratings as well as the more detailed underlying measurements. The ratings are based on a set of standard measures developed by the National Committee on Quality Assurance. In addition to grades based on clinical best practices, the report also includes grades, for the first time, on customer satisfaction.
The PPO report card is available now at www.insurance.ca.gov. The companion report card on HMOs will be released separately early next year.