CHP among top five health plans in US
By Dave Hodges
DEMOCRAT BUSINESS EDITOR
November 12, 2009
A national review of health-insurance plans based on their clinical performance and member satisfaction ranks Capital Health Plan fifth-best in the nation for both commercial and Medicare providers and the best plan in Florida.
The 2009-10 “American’s Best Health Insurance Plans” rankings are published by U.S. News & World Report and the National Committee for Quality Assurance. It’s the highest combined ranking CHP has ever achieved.
“I think these data increasingly suggest that some of the best-performing health plans are really the ones that are more connected to their communities, that are more local in scope,” said John Hogan, CHP’s chief executive. The plan is offered in Leon, Gadsden, Wakulla and Jefferson counties.
In last year’s review, CHP was ranked 23rd nationally and seventh among the top plans in Florida.
Hogan said the criteria for the evaluation include physicians’ opinions on the level of care and how the patients themselves view the CHP plan and the services delivered.
“To the extent that we are getting good results, it’s a reflection of the quality of the medical community and their willingness to work with the health plan to try to make sure patients get the things they should get,” he said, also crediting the work of staff and the support from businesses and other employers who offer the plan to their workers.
The assessment results also provide a basis for CHP’s further efforts at improving patient care, said Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, chief medical officer.
“For instance, on the quality measures, we look and see where we are relative to the other hundreds of health plans that have reported data, and we actually set goals that are related to what we want to be, the best in the nation,” she added.
CHP also earned high marks from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for its Medicare Advantage plan. CHP is the only Medicare Advantage plan in Florida and one of only three in the nation to receive five stars for the summary rating of health-plan quality from CMS.
Bill Gunter, chairman of Rogers, Gunter, Vaughn Insurance Inc., was serving as Florida’s insurance regulator when CHP was founded 27 years ago. “We are very fortunate, I think, to have Capital Health Plan in Tallahassee. Of course, they started back when I was insurance commissioner,” Gunter said. “I take great pride in how they have developed and the fact they are the top-ranked HMO in Florida.”