First New York/New Jersey Health Care Report Car...( Health Accountability Foundation's...),Health

Health Accountability Foundation's Report Card Provides Information on

NY/NJ HMO Quality, Cost; NY Hospital Quality, Mortality, Cost

LAKE SUCCESS, N.Y., Sept. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Health care consumers and employers in New York and New Jersey have a unique new tool for evaluating the region's hospitals and managed care plans: the New York State Health Accountability Foundation's first New York Regional Health Care Report Card. The report card provides data on the cost and quality of care received by members of the states' commercial managed care plans, and the quality of care, mortality rates, length of stay and pricing of care provided to hospital patients in New York (NOTE: data on New Jersey hospitals will be added later). Available at http://www.AboutHealthQuality.org, the report card is interactive and searchable by county, enabling consumers and businesses to create customized reports on their local hospitals and health plans.

"We have continually sought to provide the most valid, useful information to health care consumers and businesses in the region since we launched our first New York HMO Report Card in 1999," says Theodore O. Will, Chief Executive Officer, IPRO. "By expanding the report card to include New Jersey health plans we hope to provide an even broader picture of the quality and cost of health care delivery within the region."

IPRO and the New York Business Group on Health are founding partners of the New York State Health Accountability Foundation. The Foundation is a private-public partnership dedicated to promoting transparency in the health care system and is directed by an Advisory Council of major New York-area employers.

The report card includes 27 measures of quality care for New York health plans and 22 for New Jersey's health plans. Measures are grouped within the categories Customer Satisfaction, Medical Care, Mental Health, Staying Health
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