Patient-Centered Care Leads to 91% Member Satisfaction Rate for US Family Health Plan

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (11/30/2010) - While America continues to seek solutions to the need for low-cost, high-quality healthcare, a storied history of delivering patient-centered care to uniformed services families has helped garner exemplary member satisfaction ratings year after year for the US Family Health Plan. The plan, administered by selected community-based hospital and physician networks through agreements with the Department of Defense, has achieved a 2010 aggregate member satisfaction rating of 91 percent: a full 28 points higher on a 100-point scale than the national average for satisfaction with health plans. That’s when compared to the 224 plans documented in the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) 2010 Quality Compass Report.

Based on the report, 62.7 percent of health plan members nationally report high satisfaction with their plans (rating them an 8, 9 or 10 on a scale of 1-10). By contrast, a whopping 91 percent of US Family Health Plan members report high satisfaction with their plan.

The independent assessment of 4,781 US Family Health Plan members utilized the most widely used set of performance metrics in the managed care industry to measure performance on important dimensions of care and service. Known as the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) 4.0H Survey, it assesses member satisfaction in areas such as claims processing, customer service and getting needed care quickly.

“The US Family Health Plan’s national member satisfaction scores once again exceed the benchmark in all rating areas for the core population, including survey respondents of all ages,” said David Bahlinger, director of analytics and research for The Myers Group of Snellville, Ga., an NCQA-certified HEDIS survey vendor that administered the study of the health plan members. “Compared to the Quality Compass, US Family Health Plan members report significantly higher satisfaction with customer service, claims processing, how well their doctors communicate with them, the ability to get needed care, and get that care quickly.”

The US Family Health Plan, a comprehensive healthcare plan, offers the full TRICARE Prime benefit to more than 100,000 military beneficiaries, including active-duty family members, activated Guard and Reserve family members, and military retirees and their family members, including those aged 65 and over.

“TRICARE is pleased to offer military beneficiaries the option of US Family Health Plan,” said Rear Adm. Christine Hunter, deputy director of the TRICARE Management Activity. “With its high satisfaction, US Family Health Plan is enhancing the patient experience of care, a key element of our Quadruple Aim strategy in the Military Health System. The high member satisfaction marks that US Family Health Plan consistently receive reflect their dedication to exemplary patient care.”

Mary Cooke, chairman of the US Family Health Plan Alliance, said, “We are committed to delivering high value to military beneficiaries and to the DoD by focusing on the needs of our members and engaging them in programs aimed at staying healthy. While we provide intensive disease management services to our members with multiple or chronic health conditions, through wellness and prevention programs, our goal is to inspire and engage our members to live healthy lifestyles today, and minimize their chances of developing chronic conditions years down the road. We’re proud that, for 16 years in a row, our members have validated through independent surveys that they are highly satisfied with their healthcare. But it’s never been about survey results for us — it’s about the people. We believe our military families deserve the best care we can provide — it’s that simple.”

The US Family Health Plan is distinguished by its thousands of network doctors and hospitals, low cost, lack of deductibles, free preventative pediatric care, free annual physicals and in most locations, after-hours telephone access to healthcare providers. Enrollment in the Plan is offered in the following hospital and physician networks:

• Johns Hopkins Medicine (1-800-801-9322) – serving Maryland; Washington D.C.; and parts of Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware and West Virginia
• Martin’s Point Health Care (1-888-241-4556) – serving Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, upstate and western New York and the northern tier of Pennsylvania
• Brighton Marine Health Center (1-800-818-8589) – serving Massachusetts, including Cape Cod; Rhode Island; and northern Connecticut
• St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers (1-800-241-4848) – serving New York City, Long Island, southern Connecticut, New Jersey and Philadelphia and area suburbs
• CHRISTUS Health (1-800-678-7347) – serving southeast Texas and southwest Louisiana
• Pacific Medical Centers (1-888-958-7347) – serving the Puget Sound area of Washington State

For more information about the US Family Health Plan, visit www.usfhp.com. For information about USFHP at PacMed, visit www.pacmed.org/index.php/us-family-health-plan.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Susan Oakland
Marion, Montgomery, Inc.
713.523.7900, ext. 127
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