California Persuades Major PPOs To Publish Performance Data

Golden State regulators have persuaded 6 large preferred provider organization plans to compile the same kinds of performance reports that most large health maintenance organizations now compile.

The plans have agreed to collect data in the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set format.

The participating PPOs are units of Aetna Inc., Hartford; Blue Shield of California, San Francisco; CIGNA Corp., Philadelphia; Health Net Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif; WellPoint Inc., Indianapolis; and UnitedHealth Group Inc., Minnetonka, Minn.

The National Committee for Quality Assurance, Washington, a group that includes both employers and insurers, developed the HEDIS format for HMOs and has been trying to persuade PPOs to supply HEDIS data.