Health First Health Plans Earns Top Accreditation
By Space Coast Daily // June 27, 2012
Top Rating For Commercial & Medicare Plans
BREVARD COUNTY • ROCKLEDGE, FLORIDA – Health First Health Plans has been awarded an Accreditation status of Excellent — the highest possible level — from the National Committee for Quality Assurance.
The company has received this top rating for both its commercial and Medicare plans for the third consecutive three-year accreditation period.
The NCQA Accreditation survey process includes on-site and off-site evaluations of more than 60 standards and selected HEDIS® performance measures conducted by a team of physicians and managed care experts.
Information from health plan records, consumer surveys, and interviews with health plan staff are collected. A national oversight committee of physicians analyzes the team’s findings and assigns an accreditation level based on the plan’s performance in five areas: Access and Service, Qualified Providers, Staying Healthy, Getting Better, and Living with Illness.
“NCQA’s Excellent Accreditation status is reserved for the best health plans in the nation,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, President of NCQA.
“It is only awarded to those plans that meet or exceed NCQA’s rigorous requirements for consumer protection and quality improvement and deliver excellent clinical care.”
Consumers can easily access a health plan’s status and other information on health care quality at ncqa.org.
“Health First Health Plan members are familiar with our friendly, local customer service, but we believe they deserve to know they’re also receiving national-level clinical quality and service,” said Margaret Haney, President/CEO of Health First Health Plans.
About Health First Health Plans
Centrally located in the Suntree area, Health First Health Plans currently has more than 63,000 members, including 23,000 Medicare members.
Serving residents of Brevard County and part of Sebastian in Indian River County for 16 years, Health First Health Plans was founded as part of Health First, Inc. a not-for-profit family of healthcare services that also includes Health First Cape Canaveral Hospital, Health First Holmes Regional Medical Center, Health First Palm Bay Hospital, Health First Viera Hospital and Medical Plaza, and Health First Physicians.
For more information, visit HealthFirstHealthPlans.org or call 321-434-5665, toll-free 1-800-716-7737, or TTY/TDD 1-800-955-8771. Customer service hours are 8 am to 8 pm, seven days a week, between October 1 and February 14. From February 15 to September 30, customer
