SEATTLE, Dec. 11, 2006 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- A national health plan tailored for military families and offered in the Puget Sound area is winning rave reviews from its more than 11,000 local members as one of the highest-ranked health plans in America. US Family Health Plan, sponsored by the Department of Defense and celebrating 25 years of serving uniformed services personnel, delivers care in King and Snohomish counties through the Pacific Medical Centers to dependents of active-duty service men and women, activated reservists and National Guard members, and military retirees and their eligible family members.
In a recent independent survey, US Family Health Plan members at Pacific Medical Centers gave the Plan an 88.8 percent overall satisfaction rating - 23 percent higher than the national average for satisfaction with health plans as reported by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in its Quality Compass 2006 Public Report. The report, designed to provide health plans with comparative information on the quality of America's managed care plans, includes data from 253 commercial adult plans that chose to release their results publicly. Rated on a scale from zero to 10 (with 10 as the highest rating), 88.8 percent of US Family Health Plan members at Pacific Medical Centers rated their overall satisfaction with the Plan as an 8 or higher.
"Additionally, the survey identified our members as among the most loyal health plan members in America, meaning that they're satisfied with the Plan, do not intend to switch to another plan, and are willing to recommend the Plan to family and friends," says Kate Ryan, vice president, US Family Health Plan at Pacific Medical Centers.
"The analysis showed that 78.2 percent of all of our respondents, and 85 percent of those age 65 or older, can be categorized as loyal. The national percentage for loyalty is 43.7 percent."
The satisfaction of US Family Health Plan members at Pacific Medical Centers with 1) their health plan, 2) their ability to get care quickly, 3) their physicians, and 4) the doctor office staff they interact with through the network all rank in the 99th percentile nationally. Members also continue to report high satisfaction with claims processing, customer service and the timeliness in which they receive resolutions to problems. Results show that for 12 consecutive years, US Family Health Plan members at Pacific Medical Centers have been among the most satisfied health plan beneficiaries in America.
The survey was conducted by The Myers Group of Snellville, Ga., an NCQA Certified Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS(r)) Survey Vendor, using the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS(r)) 3.0H survey methodology. Developed jointly by the Agency for Healthcare Research (AHRQ) and NCQA, the CAHPS 3.0H survey is the most comprehensive tool available for assessing consumers' experiences with their health plans.
US Family Health Plan, a permanent part of the military health care system, is an added option available in six regions of the country through networks of community-based physicians and hospitals. In addition to Pacific Medical Centers in the Puget Sound area, enrollment in US Family Health Plan is offered through:
-- Johns Hopkins Medicine - serving central Maryland, Washington
D.C., and parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia
-- Martin's Point Healthcare - serving Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire
and northeastern New York
-- Brighton Marine Health Center - serving Massachusetts, including
Cape Cod, plus Rhode Island and northern Connecticut
-- St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers - serving parts of New York,
all of New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and southern Connecticut
-- CHRISTUS Health - serving southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana.
For more information, call US Family Health Plan at Pacific Medical Centers at 888-958-7347 or visit www.usfamilyhealthplan.org.
The US Family Health Plan logo can be found at http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1094
Note to Editors:
CAHPS(r) is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).