PART ONE
USA TODAY - One of the nation's largest health
insurers, WellPoint, has teamed with Zagat Survey to let patients rate
their doctors, just as diners rate restaurants in Zagat's
burgundy-colored guides.
Instead of Zagat's four categories for
restaurants — food, décor, service and cost — the ratings guide will
consider trust, communication, availability and office environment. In
addition to giving doctors a numerical score based on a 30-point scale,
the site will include comments from patients.
The WellPoint
program will be available online to more than a million members by the
end of March. It plans to roll it out to all of its 35 million members
but would not give a schedule.
The move by the insurer comes as
consumers increasingly turn to the Internet to learn about products and
services — and see customer reviews.
Other insurers, including
Aetna, survey patients about physicians in their networks, posting the
results online for members. A few commercial websites, such as
Revolution Health and RateMDs .com, offer the public an opportunity to
rate doctors. But WellPoint is the largest insurer to partner with such
a well-known survey firm as Zagat.
Source
PART TWO
PHILADELPHIA—A CIGNA Corp. unit will disclose to consumers and
physicians the cost and quality metrics the insurer uses to rank
doctors on a nationwide basis, expanding the program beyond New York.
Additionally, WellPoint Inc.’s New York unit agreed Wednesday to adopt
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s model for physician ranking
programs. The unit, Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield, is the largest
health insurer in the state with about 5 million members.
CIGNA Healthcare, a unit of Philadelphia-based CIGNA Corp., reached an
agreement last month with New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to
ensure its physician rankings include established national standards to
measure quality, and to disclose to consumers and physicians how much
of the evaluation process is based on cost efficiency and how much on
quality measures. The insurer also agreed to retain a monitor to
oversee compliance with all aspects of the agreement and report to the
attorney general every six months.
As part of its agreement’s guidelines, Empire will ensure that rankings
for doctors are not based solely on cost, clearly identify the degree
to which any ranking is based on cost, and use established national
standards to measure quality and cost efficiency. The insurer also will
retain an oversight monitor to oversee compliance with all aspects of
the agreement and report to the attorney general every six months.
Empire, also known as WellChoice Inc., is a unit of Indianapolis-based
WellPoint, the largest managed care organization in the country by
membership. WellPoint plans to incorporate the basic principles of the
agreement into existing and future physician ranking programs in other
states as well, according to a company spokeswoman.
CIGNA was the first health insurer to agree to revamp its physician
ranking program, although the agreement was initially limited to New
York. CIGNA said Tuesday that it plans to implement the agreement
nationwide by late 2008 or early 2009, according to a spokesman.
Separately, Hartford, Conn.-based Aetna Inc. agreed Tuesday to
implement the accord on a nationwide basis. The time frame for
implementation has not been finalized as the insurer works through the
specifics of the agreement and with consumer groups on phasing in
changes to the program, according to an Aetna spokeswoman.
The agreements follow Mr. Cuomo’s ongoing investigation into physician
ranking programs in which he sent letters to Aetna, CIGNA, Minnetonka,
Minn.-based UnitedHealth Group Inc. and several New York-based
insurers.
Source
