Media Release

For: Immediate Release
Date: June 9, 2003
Contact: Bruce Cryan  (401) 222-5123

RI Health Department Releases Medicare & Medicaid Health Plans’ Performance Data

Today, the Rhode Island Department of Health (HEALTH) released the “RI Medicare & Medicaid Health Plans’ Factbook –2001.”  The Factbook presents 55 separate statistics covering 7 areas of performance, and is a companion volume to the “RI Commercial Health Plans’ Performance Report -2001” released earlier.

HEALTH’s Office of Performance Measurement, produced the Factbook as a result of the 1996 Health Care Accessibility and Quality Assurance Act.  Author Bruce Cryan noted that its intent is to promote performance improvement through public reporting.

The Factbook examines areas ranging from finances to access, from clinical to utilization—including data on member satisfaction and complaints.  When available, national and regional benchmarks are provided for comparisons; and most measures include 4 years of trend data. 

This, and other Office of Performance Measurement publications on hospitals and nursing homes are available on HEALTH’s website (www.HEALTH.ri.gov).