Optima ‘Family Care' Among Top 30 Medicaid Plans in First U.S. News & World Report Survey
- Award-winning program ranks 30th. Optima Health in Top 100-
In its first national ranking of health plans, U.S. News & World Report places Optima Family Care 30th among the Top 30 Medicaid managed care programs.1
In addition to unprecedented customer service, Optima Family Care offers Medicaid recipients its award-winning ‘Partners in Pregnancy’ program, which offers both telephone and home-based coaching to expectant mothers throughout their pregnancies to ensure adequate prenatal care and healthier babies.
“We are delighted to be among the Top 30 Medicaid programs in this first national ranking by U.S. News,” says Michael M. Dudley, President of Optima Health. “We think high-quality managed care for Medicaid recipients means lower costs to taxpayers in the long run.” Optima Family care has about 115,000 members in Virginia. 2
Partners in Pregnancy was recognized nationally by the Disease Management Association of America (DMAA) in 2004 for significant reductions in admissions to neonatal intensive care units and lengths of stay for newborns needing NICU treatment.3
Estimated savings during a 21-month survey period amounted to $6.3 million in hospital costs and 5800 fewer NICU days. Partners in Pregnancy also received a $50,000 grant from the Center for Health Care Strategies in 2004 to study ‘A Business Case for Quality’ in Medicaid managed care.4
Optima Family Care also received awards from the Hampton Roads and Richmond chapters of the Urban League for its middle-school girls’ basketball program that emphasizes healthy lifestyles and dietary choices, exercise and sexual abstinence during a formative period in their lives.
Optima Health makes Top 100
In addition to Optima Family Care, plans administered by Optima Health, the parent organization, ranked among the Top 100 commercial health care plans at #93.
“This is just the beginning,” says Michael M. Dudley of this first ranking for commercial plans. “We’re setting a course for the Top 50 right now.”
Optima Health consistently receives ‘Excellent’ ratings from the National Commission on Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its commercial products.5 Optima recently earned ‘A+’ from the respected Weiss Ratings Agency for its sound business practices and reliability for consumers.
Optima Health offers an array of high-value commercial health plans including HMO, POS and PPO plans, plus the consumer-driven FourSight plan for small to medium-sized businesses.
Optima Medicare Preferred is the new Medicare PPO that eliminates the need for a Medicare supplemental policy.
Quick Links:
1America's Best Health Plans, U.S. News and World Report, Oct. 10, 2005. www.usnews.com, Accessed October 3, 2005. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/health/best-health-insurance/topplans.htm
2DMAS Managed Care Enrollment Report, January 2005
3DMAA Announces Recipients of its 2004 Recognizing Excellence Awards Program, www.dmaa.org/pressrelease1132004.htm, November 2004
4Center for Health Care Strategies, Inc., Awarded May 2004, www.chcs.org
5NCQA Report, www.ncqa.org, Sept. 2005