![]() But there is some room for variation in procedures. All the plans are required to use an independent firm to conduct their surveys under the supervision of the nonprofit National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) using standardized survey procedures. It should also be noted that differences in the way the survey was administered might explain small differences in plan scores. We have found, for example, that among members of the same plan, POS users are about two to three percentage points less likely than basic HMO users to give high ratings to the plan. Second, for the national plans (and the ratings we report for Blue Cross and Blue Shield by state), the ratings are only from FEHB enrollees, while the ratings for the regional HMO and POS plans include ratings from non-FEHB enrollees.Įven among HMO and POS plans, you should be aware that the ratings given by non-Federal members may have been given by members who were in a different variant of the plan than the variant offered to Federal employees and retirees. For example, high or low ratings of "personal doctors" by enrollees in a national plan don't tell you how that plan's members in a region rate their doctors, and yet it is the national plan's doctors in that region who should be compared to the doctors of members of regional plans serving only that region. First, it is not possible directly to compare regional plans (primarily HMO and POS plans) to national plans. In interpreting member ratings, also keep in mind that comparing across different types of plans is at best imperfect. And we have some evidence from follow-up survey tests we have done that scores would not have changed much even if an additional 10 or 15 percent of surveyed members had responded. Fortunately, with roughly 40 percent of surveyed members responding for most plans, the respondents do at least represent a substantial portion of members. Young male members also tend to give somewhat lower ratings than older members of either gender. Our analysis of these and similar survey data has indicated that younger members and men are less likely to respond than women and older members. It is possible that those who responded are more satisfied or less satisfied than those who did not. ![]() Some enrollees did not return the questionnaire. ![]()
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