HMO Improvements

The nonprofit National Committee for Quality Assurance, which helps employers gauge the quality of their health insurance plans, studied clinical quality measures and reported that the industry had made significant gains in 1999. The analysis is based upon 466 health plans that insure about 51 million people. The most noteworthy progress is in improvements in heart-disease prevention and childhood immunizations. The survey also reported areas that need improvement. Two major areas of concern are patients with asthma and preventative medicine (e.g., diabetic-eye exams and cervical-cancer screening). For more information visit www.ncqa.org.