Meridian Health Plan Achieves Top Quality Scores In Illinois

CHICAGO, Feb. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Meridian Health Plan achieves and exceeds NCQA HEDIS performance benchmarks for the third consecutive year in key State of Illinois quality measures. Meridian specifically excelled in measures related to prevention and screening among Medicaid children and adults, as well as access to care measures for preventive and ambulatory care. These results were presented by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) at their recent stakeholder meeting on November 7, 2012 in Chicago, Illinois.

Meridian is one of three Voluntary Managed Care (VMC) plans in Illinois and has been operating in the state since 2008. Meridian had the highest scores among all plan data that was presented at the HFS stakeholder meeting. Meridian met or exceeded the 90 ^th percentile in the following measures in 2012:  Childhood Immunization Status – Combo 3, Lead Screening in Children, Well-Care Visits in the First 15 months (6 or more visits), Well-Child Visits for ages 3-6 years, Adolescent Well-Care Visits, Cervical Cancer Screening for Women (Pap tests), Timeliness of Prenatal and Postpartum Care and Access to Care for Adults and Children. Given that the Prenatal and Postpartum Care results are comprised of the majority of Meridian membership, Meridian is particularly proud of having remained in the 90 ^th percentile for this measure for the past three years. In addition, Meridian demonstrated a 100% score in the Children Access to Care measures for ages 12-24 months.

Meridian's Illinois President and CEO, Michael D. Cotton, identified that these high performing quality scores are the result of the company's dedication to improving the quality of care in a low resource environment. "Meridian has invested extensive resources and training to ensure that continuous quality improvement strategies are part of our daily operations. Meridian continuously tracks and monitors performance and compares results to national benchmarks. We expect to have continued high quality scores in Illinois and in all states where we operate."

Meridian was recently awarded a contract expansion in Illinois to serve Seniors and Persons with Disabilities (SPD) as an expansion of the Integrated Care Program, as well as to serve Dual Eligibles under the Medicare-Medicaid Alignment Initiative (MMAI) and expects that these programs will be operational later in 2013. For more information, visit www.mhplan.com.

SOURCE Meridian Health Plan

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