Priority Health Rated First In Nation

(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – September 12, 2005)
A compilation of ratings places Priority Health, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based health plan, first in nation.

The National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), the country's leading evaluator of health plan performance, recently released its review of more than 80 of the nation's health plans. The review was conducted using eValue8 (pronounced evaluate), a process which collects and verifies information about health plans for employers to use in managing the quality of the plans they offer and to make informed decisions when negotiating health plan agreements. Eight categories — pharmacy, behavioral health, primary prevention, consumer engagement, health information technology, plan profile, chronic disease management, and provider measurement — were measured for exceptional clinical outcomes and outstanding customer service.

A compilation of the ratings of all plans reviewed indicates that Priority Health achieved the highest cumulative score among all of the plans responding nationally. Priority Health, a Grand Rapids, Michigan-based health plan, rated first in three of the eight categories — chronic disease management, consumer involvement, and health information technology.

"Priority Health has made substantial investments in the people, technology and products necessary to help our members improve their health and the quality of health care delivered. Our performance in this review reflects that commitment," said Kimberly K. Horn, president and CEO for Priority Health. "We have chosen to put programs in place that measure and reward health care providers for performance and encourage our members to take ownership of their health care now, not only in preparation for a consumer-driven health care future, but because it is the right thing to do."

Horn said that the result is a measurable increase in consumer engagement in their health care, better chronic disease management and overall improved health for its members, which results in reduced health care costs for purchasers. "It stands to reason that preserving and improving health results in increased productivity and reduced costs to the employer and the communities we serve," she said.

Priority Health's proprietary consumer health care engagement tools include, HealthbyChoice™, an internet-based program that encourages and rewards employees for healthy behaviors. Horn said the health plan's program for chronic disease management has shown a 2:1 return on investment during the past four years for members dealing with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma and cardiovascular conditions.

"With the current health care cost trend increasing exponentially from year to year, we know our employer members are looking for not only the best cost savings, but the best wellness benefit for employees, to help keep them out of the health care delivery system," Horn said.

Dennis White, interim director of the eValue8 program for NBCH, said, "NBCH recognizes that more employers want to move beyond treating health care as a commodity, which is what they do when price is the primary factor in their decisions. Informed employers are looking for resources to help them make use of quality and other performance metrics that are now available. The good news is that improving the quality of health care contributes to cost reduction as well. The eValue8 data is one more tool available to our members in determining the best health plan for their business and employees."

Company Information
Grand Rapids, Michigan-based Priority Health has been ranked among the nation's best health insurance plans available by Newsweek and U.S. News & World Report. The non-profit company began operations in 1986 as Butterworth HMO and LakeShore HMO which merged in 1992 to form Priority Health. Today it offers a variety of HMO, PPO, POS, ASO, Medicaid and Medicare plans. Priority Health currently provides health care plans for more than 6,000 companies and nearly 450,000 people.

NBCH
NBCH is a national non-profit membership organization of nearly 80 employer-based health care coalitions, representing over 10,000 employers across the United States. NBCH and its members are dedicated to value-based purchasing of health care services through the collective action of public and private purchasers. In developing, identifying and disseminating best practices in value-based purchasing strategies, NBCH seeks to accelerate the nation's progress towards safe, efficient, high quality health care. For more information, call 202-775-9300 or visit www.nbch.org.