FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

"Our NCQA accreditation of Excellent is a reflection of the effort and resources that MVP Health Care puts into serving our customers and improving the clinical quality of the care our members receive," said David W. Oliker, MVP president and chief executive officer. "Our ability to compete with the nation's leading health plans is also a result of our physicians' commitment to quality health care."

"Earning Excellent Accreditation reflects a health plan's ability to work with their members and their physicians to improve the quality of clinical care," said Greg Pawlson, M.D., NCQA executive vice president. "It shows that they are building the kinds of partnerships that are critical to delivering great care and great service."

The NCQA Accreditation standards are publicly reported in five categories:

Access and Service: Do health plan members have access to the care and service they need?

Qualified Providers: Does the health plan assess each doctor's qualifications and what do health plan members say about the plan's providers?

Staying Healthy: Does the health plan help members maintain good health and detect illness early?

Getting Better: How well does the health plan care for members when they become sick?

Living With Illness: How well does the health plan care for members when they have chronic conditions?

In making its determination, NCQA reviewers also assessed how well the MVP HMO/POS performed on a set of standardized national measures for clinical quality and customer service called the Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS®). To achieve Excellent status health plans must score in the highest range of national performance. NCQA reviewers closely examined all aspects of MVP Health Plan's operations and services during an intensive review period that included an onsite visit. Health plans designated "Excellent" generally have achieved scores in the top 25 percent nationally on key performance measures such as mammography and immunization rates, advising smokers to quit, prenatal care, access to care, and overall satisfaction.

"The scope of the NCQA review is so broad that in order for us to achieve scores in the Excellent range on the NCQA review, our quality improvement program engages every aspect of our operations," said Jerry Salkowe, M.D. MVP Health Care vice president for clinical quality improvement.