Statement from NCQA President Margaret E. O'Kane on the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project Patient Charter

2008-04-01 23:58:57 -

- Margaret E. O'Kane, President of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), made the following statement regarding the release of the Patient Charter for Physician Performance Measurement, Reporting and Tiering Programs issued today by the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project:

"Selecting the right doctor is the most important health care choice a consumer can make. Trustworthy, understandable data on physician quality goes a long way towards helping patients make an informed selection. The Patient Charter is important because not only does it clearly signal the strong desire among purchasers and patients for measuring physician performance, it sharpens the line between the right way and the wrong way to do so.

"Since 2006, we at NCQA have evaluated the provider measurement efforts of more than three dozen health plans through our Physician and Hospital Quality program. This program shares many of the same principles as the Patient Charter - reliable data based on national standards, physician involvement and transparent, understandable methodology.

"As NCQA serves as the ratings examiner for three of the health plans in New York that have settled with the Attorney General in that state on the subject of physician measurement, we can attest to the high level of interest among regulators and policymakers. The Patient Charter marks a similar interest and clearly lays out what patients and purchasers expect from physician measurement initiatives. We're proud to join so many others in endorsing the charter's principles."

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA is the nation's leading developer of health care evaluation tools including health plan accreditation, physician recognition and organization certification. NCQA also is responsible for the evolution of HEDIS(R), the most widely used set of health care performance measures. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health choices. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.

National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA)
Jeff Van Ness, 202-955-3518