FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2010

(Medford, Mass.) — Network Health, Inc., a Massachusetts health plan that provides high-quality health care coverage to more than 160,000 Massachusetts residents with low and moderate incomes, announced today it received the highest possible accreditation rating from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). Network Health earned NCQA’s “Excellent” Health Plan Accreditation for its Network Health Together® (MassHealth) plan after a rigorous two-year review.

NCQA’s Health Plan Accreditation, developed with input and support from health plans, purchasers, unions, and consumer groups, is the nation’s most-trusted and comprehensive independent source for evaluating health care quality and value. To earn NCQA accreditation, health plans face a challenging set of more than 60 standards and must report on their performance in more than 40 areas.

“Receiving NCQA’s ‘Excellent’ Health Plan Accreditation reflects Network Health’s dedication to providing quality service and care to our members,” said Christina Severin, president of Network Health. “I’m exceptionally proud of our team’s hard work and commitment to achieving such a lofty goal. Looking forward, we’ll use this momentum to identify continuous quality improvement opportunities to maintain our ‘Excellent’ rating and best serve our members.”

NCQA designs its Health Plan Accreditation to evaluate the core systems and processes that make up a health plan and the health plan’s key dimensions of care, service, and efficiency results. The accreditation process involves on-site and off-site evaluations by physicians and managed care experts. NCQA’s Health Plan Accreditation is the only program in the nation that includes a clinical care and patient experience exam.

NCQA, through its Health Plan Accreditation, scores health plans on the results of three major components: Health Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS® ), a yearly evaluation of performance in key areas of clinical care and customer service; Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS® ), a yearly survey of plan members’ satisfaction with the quality and services they receive; and an Accreditation Survey, an assessment of the plan’s quality-related policies, systems, and procedures.

About Network Health

Since 1997, Network Health, Inc. has provided Massachusetts residents with low and moderate incomes access to high-quality health care. Based in Medford, Mass., Network Health is a comprehensive health plan serving members through its Network Health Together® (MassHealth) and Network Health Forward® (Commonwealth Care) plans.

Network Health provides its Network Health Together members with all the benefits of MassHealth, plus additional free and discounted benefits. Network Health’s Commonwealth Care plan extends access to affordable health care for qualified Massachusetts residents 19 years or older who earn at or below 300% of the federal poverty level, or up to approximately $32,496 a year for an individual (up to approximately $66,156 a year for a family of four). In addition to core health care benefits, Network Health offers its Network Health Forward members extra benefits designed to encourage wellness.

Network Health is nationally recognized for its integrated model of care, which provides a team of in-house medical, mental health, social service, and pharmacy professionals to coordinate the care of members with complex health needs and address their nonmedical barriers to care. In its efforts to improve the health and well-being of its members and their diverse communities, Network Health partners with a growing network of 18,000 primary care providers, specialists, hospitals, and community organizations to serve members in more than 300 cities and towns across Massachusetts.

Individuals must be eligible for MassHealth to join Network Health Together, a MassHealth plan. To learn about MassHealth eligibility, Massachusetts residents can contact the MassHealth Enrollment Center at 888-665-9993 (TTY: 888-665-9997), Monday through Friday, 8:45 a.m. to 5 p.m. Once enrolled, MassHealth members can learn about their MassHealth health plan options by calling the MassHealth Customer Service Center at 800-841-2900 (TTY: 800-497-4648), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

To learn about Commonwealth Care health plan options, call the Commonwealth Care Customer Service Center at 877-MA-ENROLL or 877-623-6765 (TTY: 877-623-7773), Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Or visit www.mahealthconnector.org.

About the National Committee for Quality Assurance

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is a private, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. Since its founding in 1990, NCQA has been a central figure in driving improvement throughout the health care system, helping to elevate the issue of health care quality to the top of the national agenda.

NCQA Health Plan Accreditation is the nation’s most trusted independent source for promoting health care quality improvement that results in tangible, bottom-line value for health care purchasers. NCQA began accrediting managed care organizations in 1991, in response to a demand for standardized, objective information about their performance.

The NCQA seal is a widely recognized symbol of quality. Organizations incorporating the seal into advertising and marketing materials must first pass a rigorous, comprehensive review and must annually report on their performance. For consumers and employers, the seal is a reliable indicator that an organization is well-managed and delivers high-quality care and service.

NCQA has helped to build consensus around important health care quality standards by working with large employers, policymakers, doctors, patients, and health plans to decide what’s important, how to measure it, and how to promote improvement. These standards will promote the adoption of strategies that we believe will improve care, enhance service, and reduce costs, such as paying providers based on performance, leveraging the Web to give consumers more information, disease management, and physician-level measurement.

Health plans in every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico are NCQA accredited. These plans cover 109 million Americans or 70.5% of all Americans enrolled in health plans. Forty states recognize NCQA Accreditation as meeting some or all of their requirements through deeming; a dozen of these mandate it. Medicare and Medicaid recognize NCQA accreditation through deeming, as well.

For more information on NCQA and the accreditation process, please visit www.ncqa.org.