HMOs, Medicaid, CHIP » Utah's private health maintenance organizations (HMOs) do a good job treating children with asthma, but need to do better in providing breast cancer screenings, according to a new state report. The Utah Department of Health on Tuesday released its 12th annual performance report for Utah's commercial HMOs, as well as Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plans. The plans cover more than 900,000 Utahns. Quality of care measures were based on data collected by the plans. Customers also were surveyed for the report available at health.utah.gov/hda/reports/2008/hmo/.
The evaluated plans
-- Private HMO plans: Altius Health Plans, Regence HealthWise, Select Access and UnitedHealthcare of Utah.
-- Plans provided to Utah's Medicaid beneficiaries: Healthy U, Molina Healthcare of Utah and state-administered plans Select Access Preferred Provider Network and Fee for Service Plan.
-- Plans provided for CHIP: Public Employees Health Program (PEHP) and Molina Healthcare of Utah.
Private HMOs
Commercial HMOs either met or exceeded national averages in providing child immunizations and blood sugar testing for diabetics. Over the past five years, the rate of pregnant women in commercial HMOs who receive timely prenatal care increased 26 percent. HMOs were above national averages for effective treatment of children with asthma, though they scored lower than national counterparts in providing well-child visits and children's access to primary care providers.
Medicaid and CHIP plans
-- Medicaid HMOs scored higher than the national average on several performance measures, including children's access to primary care, timeliness of prenatal care, childhood immunizations, and eye exams for diabetics, but could improve in providing chlamydia screenings for women ages 16 to 25. Utah's CHIP HMOs were on par with or above national averages for child immunizations and well-child visits, but could do better in the treatment of children with upper respiratory infections and adolescent immunizations.
