title: Medicare managed care and the need for quality measurement.
abstract: With the increasing penetration of managed care as health insurance coverage for Medicare beneficiaries, accountability for quality of care is being demanded. While HEDIS 2.5 has become the standard for assessing the performance of health plans in caring for their commercial members, no such standard exists for Medicare enrollees. U.S. Quality Algorithms, the performance measurement subsidiary of U.S. Healthcare, has developed the Medicare Quality Report Card as a tool for performance assessment and quality improvement. This article describes how the measures of quality important to the Medicare population were chosen, how the measures were calculated, and how they have been used in programs designed to improve the quality of care for U.S. Healthcare Medicare members.
authors.affiliation: U.S. Quality Algorithms, Inc., USA.
authors.forename: N A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Hanchak
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Harmon-Weiss
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: McDermott
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Schlackman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000465:Algorithms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services; D008297:Male; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D006278:Medicare / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D014481:United States