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Friday
Jun022017

Nine Things to Know About J.D. Powers 2017 Member Health Plan Study Results

By Clive Riddle, June 2, 2017

 

J.D. Powers has just released their 2017 Member Health Plan Study Results. J.D. Powers tells us this 11th annual study “measures satisfaction among members of 168 health plans in 22 regions throughout the United States by examining six key factors: coverage and benefits; provider network; communication; claims processing; premiums; and customer service. The study also touches on several other key aspects of the experience including plan enrollment and member engagement.” The study is based on responses from 33,624 commercial health plan members and was fielded in January-March 2017.

 

The study assigns scores to each plan based on the above criteria based upon a possible 1,000 point scale. Here are nine things to know about their findings:

 1.     J.D. Powers found that “Integrated delivery systems dominate rankings: Health plans that utilize an integrated delivery system (IDS)—a network of healthcare and health insurance organizations presented to members as a single delivery organization—outperform traditional health plans on every factor measured in the study.”

 2.       Even though narrow networks have often been presented negatively in the media, the study found otherwise: “Regardless of product choice, members who were presented with lower-cost narrow network options were significantly more satisfied with their health plan versus those who were not offered such an option or did not know whether it was offered. However, just 33% of respondents say they were offered a narrow network option.”

 3.       J.D. Powers found that “the effect of payer-provider alliances is mixed: Aetna, Cigna, Anthem, and many other providers have begun to offer commercial products in collaboration with specific providers in the past few years.”

 4.       Satisfaction is highest among health plan members in the five regions: Maryland (723); East South Central (722); California (716); Michigan (716); and Ohio (714).

 5.       Satisfaction is lowest among members in the Colorado (676) and Northeast (682) regions.

 6.       The highest score achieved by any major plan was 794 (Kaiser in Maryland.)

 7.       Kaiser by far had the most regional top scores for major health plans with six: (California, Colorado, Maryland, Northwest, South Atlantic, Virginia)

 8.       The lowest score achieved by any major plan was a tie between Coventry (Aetna) in the Heartland region, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Montana in the Mountain region, both with 653. Given the regional average in the Mountain region (706) was higher than in the Heartland (693), the tiebreaker for Bottom performer would go to BCBS Montana.

 9.       UnitedHealthcare and subsidiaries by far had the most bottom regional bottom scores for major health plans with thirteen:  (Colorado, Delaware/WV/DC, East South Central, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Northwest, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Southwest, Virginia)

 

Here are the top and bottom performers of major health plans for each of J.D. Powers 22 defined regions with their respective scores, along with the average score for the region:

 

California

Top: Kaiser 780

Average: 716

Bottom: Aetna 683

 

Colorado

Top: Kaiser 725

Average: 676

Bottom: United 661

 

Delaware/WV/DC

Top: Highmark 712

Average: 691

Bottom: United 666

 

East South Central (AL, KY, LA, MS, TN)

Top: BCBS Tennessee 735

Average: 722

Bottom: United 684

 

Florida

Top: AvMed 733

Average: 702

Bottom: United 694

 

Heartland (AR, IA, KS, MO, NE, OK)

Top: Wellmark BCBS Iowa 723

Average: 693

Bottom: Coventry (Aetna) 653

 

Illinois-Indiana

Top: Health Alliance Medical Plans 723

Average: 708

Bottom: Coventry (Aetna) 666

 

Maryland

Top: Kaiser 794

Average: 723

Bottom: United 693

 

Massachusetts

Top: BCBSMass 707

Average: 703

Bottom: Cigna 664

 

Michigan

Top: Health Alliance Plan of Michigan 750

Average: 716

Bottom: United 672

 

Minnesota-Wisconsin

Top: Unity Health Plans 737

Average: 695

Bottom: Cigna 679

 

Mountain (ID, MT, UT, WY)

Top: SelectHealth 727

Average: 706

Bottom: BCBS Montana 653

 

New Jersey

Top: Horizon BCBS 712

Average: 705

Bottom: United 693

 

New York

Top: Capital District Physicians Health Plan 755

Average: 702

Bottom: Oxford (United) 658

 

Northeast (CT, ME, NH, RI, VT)

Top: BCBS Vermont 725

Average: 682

Bottom: Harvard Pilgrim 666

 

Northwest (OR, WA)

Top: Kaiser 751

Average: 697

Bottom: United 644

 

Ohio

Top: Medical Mutual of Ohio 720

Average: 714

Bottom: United 695

 

Pennsylvania

Top: UPMC 739

Average: 702

Bottom: United 672

 

South Atlantic (GA, NC, SC)

Top: Kaiser 791

Average: 707

Bottom: Aetna 696

 

Southwest (AZ, NV, NM)

Top: BCBS AZ 704

Average: 693

Bottom: Health Plan of NV (United) 661

 

Texas

Top: NA

Average: 710

Bottom: Aetna 686

 

Virginia

Top: Kaiser 769

Average: 702

Bottom: United 699

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