NASHVILLE, Tenn. - (Business Wire) AmeriChoice by UnitedHealthcare is the highest-ranked Tennessee Medicaid health plan, according to the 2009-10 National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) - U.S. News & World Report survey of “America’s Best Health Insurance Plans.” AmeriChoice health plans in two of Tennessee’s Grand Regions also are rated among the nation’s Top 50 Medicaid health plans. Each year, NCQA and U.S. News & World Report rank the nation’s commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans based on access to care, overall member satisfaction, prevention, treatment and overall quality score.
Among Medicaid plans in the United States, AmeriChoice of East Tennessee ranks 41st (and is the top ranked Medicaid plan in the state); and AmeriChoice of Middle Tennessee ranks 50th. AmeriChoice began serving customers in West Tennessee late last year, after the cutoff date for this year’s survey.
“To be recognized among the nation’s best Medicaid health plans speaks to our commitment to improve health and provide quality care for our TennCare members,” said Eric Paul, president of AmeriChoice of Tennessee. “In addition to these rankings our services in all three Grand Regions of the state received the NCQA’s highest rating of ‘excellent’ last spring. We are proud of the services we bring to our members and of the health care providers who deliver such quality care.”
The 2009-2010 “America’s Best Health Insurance Plans” rankings are published online at http://health.usnews.com/sections/health/health-plans/index.html and will be featured in the December 2009 issue of U.S. News, which will be on newsstands Dec. 1.
NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas, and manages the evolution of HEDIS®, the tool the nation’s health plans use to measure and report on their performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
About the study
This collaborative study ranked the nation's commercial Medicare and Medicaid health plans based on access to care (member's ability to get needed care, quickly contact health plan customer service), overall member satisfaction, prevention services (health screenings, prenatal care, childhood and adolescent immunizations, avoiding antibiotic overuse and well-child visits), treatment (how well the plan takes care of ongoing health problems), and overall quality score (a combination of the scores from the four main categories above and NCQA accreditation). “America's Best Health Insurance Plans” is a trademark of U.S. News & World Report.
About AmeriChoice by UnitedHealthcare
AmeriChoice by UnitedHealthcare is a Medicaid managed care organization that provides medical and behavioral health care services to TennCare members in East, Middle, and West Tennessee. AmeriChoice is the country’s premier provider of quality, personalized public sector health care programs, serving more than 2.7 million people in Medicaid, Medicare and Children's Health Insurance Programs in more than 20 states and the District of Columbia. AmeriChoice is a unit of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company. Visit www.americhoice.com for more information.
AmeriChoice
Jeff Smith, 952-931-5685
jeff.smith@uhc.com
