Florida a national leader in Medicaid quality
The Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) today announced that the Statewide Medicaid Managed Care (SMMC) 2017 quality scores are the highest in the Florida Medicaid program’s history. This is the third full year of the nationally recognized Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) quality scores for the SMMC program, and the third year in a row of continued improvement. The results show an improvement in the overwhelming majority of quality measures. Florida’s Medicaid program is one of the most efficient programs in the country, and serves as a national model. In 2017, Florida’s Medicaid health plans performed as well as or better than the national average on 69 percent of quality measures.
Secretary Justin Senior said, “What these scores really reflect is that Florida’s Medicaid program under Governor Scott’s administration has experienced continued improvement — managed care is working, and the program is providing even better quality care every year for the families we serve. Ensuring that Medicaid recipients have access to quality care has been our top priority in the Medicaid program. By making continued improvements we are ensuring that more than ever women have access to prenatal and postpartum care, children are getting well-child visits and adults have access to preventative care. We have recently awarded contracts for the next five years of the SMMC program, and have secured commitments from the health and dental plans for continued improvement in many areas, including sustained improvement in these quality measures.”
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) uses HEDIS to measure health plans on their levels of care and service. With Florida’s Medicaid health plans performing at or above the national average on 69 percent of HEDIS measures, Florida Medicaid has had an overall improvement of 10 percentage points over its 2016 scores and a 28 percentage point increase over plan ratings prior to the SMMC program.
30 reported measures showed improvement over last year’s scores, including:
- Adolescent Well-Care Visits
- Adult BMI Assessment
- Adults’ Access to Preventive Care – 45-64 years
- Adults’ Access to Preventive Care – 65+ Years
- Adults’ Access to Preventive Care – Total
- Annual Dental Visit
- Annual Monitoring for Patients on Persistent Medications – ACEs/ARBs
- Annual Monitoring for Patients on Persistent Medications – Diuretics
- Annual Monitoring for Patients on Persistent Medications – Total
- Antidepressant Medication Management – Acute Phase
- Antidepressant Medication Management – Continuation Phase
- Breast Cancer Screening
- Call Answer Timeliness
- Cervical Cancer Screening
- Children and Adolescents’ Access to PCPs – 12-24 months
- Chlamydia Screening in Women – 16-20 years
- Chlamydia Screening in Women – 21-24 years
- Chlamydia Screening in Women – Total
- Comprehensive Diabetes Care – HbA1c Good Control
- Comprehensive Diabetes Care – HbA1c Poor Control
- Comprehensive Diabetes Care – HbA1c Testing
- Comprehensive Diabetes Care – Nephropathy
- Immunizations for Adolescents – Combination 1
- Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence Treatment – 13-17 years
- Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence Treatment – 18+ years
- Initiation of Alcohol and Other Drug Dependence Treatment – Total
- Lead Screening in Children
- Postpartum Care
- Well-Child Visits in the First 15 Months of Life – 6+ visits
- Well-Child Visits in the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Years of Life
For more information on the SMMC program, please click here.
