Top Twenty Health Plan Websites Named by TheRati...( The Ratings Guy awards twenty great ...),Health

The Ratings Guy awards twenty great websites with its newest category ...

Great Consumer Driven Health Plan Websites

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- TheRatingsGuy.com announced today at the HealthContent'07 Conference in Philadelphia, the recognition of the Nation's Top 20 Health Plan websites. The websites were selected from an analysis of data using the Healthcare Market Guide, and a syndicated research database just released from National Research Corporation, made available to The Ratings Guy. The database is constructed from consumer responses in a health care survey panel of 200,000 households that represent the top 190 major metropolitan markets in the U.S. Households were asked about their level of satisfaction with their own health plan's website, and the plans with the highest mean scores led to the nomination process. The Ratings Guy reviewed each website and selected those that meet its own criteria for trust, quality, and user experience.

In all, 230 health plans were named by consumers and considered, including HMOs, PPOs, POS, FFS, and other non-specified plan types. Consumers were asked in their evaluation of their plan's website to consider the following: ability to check claim status on-line, on-line physician directory, clinical quality ratings for physicians, patient satisfaction ratings for physicians, cost of services provided by physicians, clinical quality ratings for hospitals, patient satisfaction ratings for hospitals, cost of services provided by hospitals, treatment options for different conditions, and health communities to share information. Each criterion was rated uniquely for each health plan.

Overall, consumers report that their health plan website utilization is highest with on-line physician directories, followed by checking claims status on-line and researching treatment options for different conditions. The least utilized functionality is with on-line health communities used to s
'/>"/>