United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Health, Education, and Human Services Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1996-09-19 monographic deposited born digital 20 p. GA 1.13:T-HEHS-96-215 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215 P0b002ee180397615 f:he96215t DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-24 GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215 T-HEHS-96-215 Managed health care Health maintenance organizations Health care programs Quality assurance Institution accreditation Health services administration Health care cost control Patient care services Medicare Program HCFA HMO Qualification Program Medicare Peer Review Program NCQA Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set Testimony HEHS GAO discussed the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) efforts to provide health care quality information to Medicare beneficiaries joining health maintenance organizations (HMO). GAO noted that: (1) corporate purchasers use accreditation and performance measurement monitoring to ensure that HMO furnish quality health care; (2) HCFA is starting to use similar methods to ensure HMO quality; (3) while the use of performance measurement indicators has become popular, such indicators may not be reliable or comparable, and may not be valid measures of quality; (4) 60 percent of large corporations consider HMO accreditation status by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), before contracting with HMO; (5) NCQA developed a set of standardized information on HMO focusing on provider actions, rather than patient care outcomes; (6) NCQA recently released in draft form a set of measures based on patient care outcomes; (7) HCFA has joined with a group of corporate purchasers to develop another set of standardized outcome measures; (8) HCFA uses a qualification review program similar to accreditation, along with peer review, to assess health care organizations' quality; and (9) HCFA does not routinely make quality assessment information available to Medicare beneficiaries. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215/html/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215/pdf/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215.pdf GAO/T-HEHS-96-215 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-T-HEHS-96-215 Testimony GAO/T-HEHS-96-215; Medicare: Private-Sector and Federal Efforts to Assess Health Care Quality; Managed health care Health maintenance organizations Health care programs Quality assurance Institution accreditation Health services administration Health care cost control Patient care services Medicare Program HCFA HMO Qualification Program Medicare Peer Review Program NCQA Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set Public Law 104-191