Virginia Beach, VA - March 8, 2006 - A miscalculation of data by the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) caused inaccurate rankings of Optima Family Care and Optima Health Insurance Companies in the first national ranking of health plans by U.S. News & World Report.
NCQA regrets and apologizes for the error , says NCQAs web site, and has made the necessary changes to prevent problems in future rankings.
Based on NCQAs calculations, U.S. News first ranked Optima Family Care 23rd among Medicaid HMOs. With the correction, Optima Family Care is now ranked 30th.
However, Optima Health Insurance Company, the parent of Optima Family Care, rose in the rankings from 96th place to 93rd.
"We had worked with (NCQA) before and consider them to be scrupulously attentive to detail," says a column from U.S. News editor Brian Duffy. "We cannot directly verify data collected and analyzed by an outside party."
"You deserve an apology from U.S News," Duffy told readers. "You have it."
Optima Family Care is a great product, no matter what the ranking, says Optima President Michael M. Dudley. It helps keep Medicaid families healthy, and thats good for everyone, Dudley continues. But were glad our parent company rose in the rankings.
Apart from the U.S. News survey, Optima Health has received NCQAs top quality rating for eight consecutive years.
18/2006