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Defining Quality Health Care
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Business New Haven
4/6/1998
By: BNH
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HARTFORD - According to recent findings by consulting firm J&H Marsh & McLennan, standards and definitions of quality care are becoming more objective than they were a decade ago. The most prominent assessor of health-care quality, the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), uses employer data to measure the value of what a given HMO dollar is purchasing and holds health plans accountable for performance. Organizations offering health plans are evaluated in seven major categories, including quality management and improvement, utilization management, licensing, members' rights and responsibilities and preventive health services.
Study Finds Nurse
Practitioners Underused
NEW HAVEN - Researchers at Yale and Pace universities have found that although 82 percent of managed-care executives surveyed said that the use of nurse practitioners as primary-care providers should be encouraged, only 44 percent listed them as such. Previous studies suggest that nurse practitioners can safely manage about 80 percent of primary-care situations. The Yale study notes that while most respondents understood the strengths that nurse practitioners bring to the primary-care area, they continued to block the listing of nurse practitioners as primary care providers in the network directories. Physician-owned or -operated MCOs were particularly inclined to underuse or to list nurse practitioners.
Calendar
The Connecticut Hospital Association (CHA) will host a day-long program, “The Benefits of Mainstreaming Complementary and Alternative Medicine in a Managed Healthcare Environment,” on April 30 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel in Cromwell. Cost is $125 for CHA members, $165 for others. The event is co-sponsored by Oxford Health Plans, Saint Francis Care, Masonicare Inc., and Eastern Connecticut Health Network Inc. It features as keynote speaker the renowned expert in the field of mind-body healing, New Haven's Bernie Siegel, M.D., author of Love, Medicine & Miracle. Call 203-294-7395 for registration information.
The Connecticut Partnership for Long-Term Care, will host a public forum, “The Missing Link in Retirement Planning: Why and When To Consider Long-Term Care Insurance,” on April 14 at the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven in Woodbridge. For particulars call 800-547-3443.
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