December 9, 2015 THIS WEEK IN FOCUS: NCQA’S MEDICAID MCO RATINGS FOR 2015/2016 EMBLEMHEALTH LEAVING NEW YORK’S MLTC MARKET UPDATE ON COORDINATED CARE ORGANIZATIONS IN OREGON CALIFORNIA AG APPROVES DAUGHTERS OF CHARITY DEAL FTC REJECTS HERSHEY-PINNACLE MERGER IN PENNSYLVANIA SOUTH DAKOTA GOVERNOR PROPOSES MEDICAID EXPANSION NON-PROFIT HOSPITAL FINANCIALS IMPROVED FOLLOWING ACA KAISER PERMANENTE TO ACQUIRE GROUP HEALTH COOPERATIVE CLEARVIEW CAPITAL COMPLETES SALE OF SENIOR CARE/ACTIVE DAY IN FOCUS S EDICAID EALTH NSURANCE NCQA’ M H I PLAN RATINGS 2015 - 2016 RFP CALENDAR This week, our In Focus section reviews the annual Medicaid health plan ratings released in September by the National Committee for Quality Assurance DUAL ELIGIBLES (NCQA). NCQA has previously provided annual rankings and quality scores of CALENDAR private commercial health plans serving employers and the individual market, HMA NEWS Medicare Advantage plans, and Medicaid managed care organization (MCO) However, for 2015-2016, NCQA has implemented a new ratings health plans. methodology, “which classifies plans into scores from 0 to 5 in 0.5 Edited by: increments–-a system similar to CMS’ Five-Star Quality Rating System.” This Greg Nersessian, CFA Email is a shift away from outright ranking of plans against each other, and toward rating them individually on a zero-to-five scale, with NCQA stating that only Andrew Fairgrieve Email those plans awarded a 4.5 or 5 are to be considered “highest-rated” For 2015- 2016, only eleven Medicaid MCOs across the country were awarded a 4.5 or 5. Alona Nenko Email Below, we briefly summarize the NCQA rating methodology, highlight those highest-rated Medicaid plans nationally, and provide an overview of how the larger multistate Medicaid MCOs performed in this year’s NCQA report. December 9, 2015 NCQA Methodology Overview NCQA ratings are based on three types of quality measures: 1. measures of clinical quality; 2. measures of consumer satisfaction; and 3. results from NCQA’s review of a health plan’s health quality processes. NCQA rates health plans that report quality information publicly. The clinical quality measures include prevention and treatment measures, which are a subset of the NCQA Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) measures. Consumer satisfaction measures come from the HEDIS survey measurement set—Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) 2—a validated survey overseen by the Agency for Health Care Quality (AHRQ). Consumer satisfaction measures assess patient experience with care, including their experiences with doctors, services and customer service. Prevention measures assess the proportion of eligible members who received preventive services, like prenatal and postpartum care, immunizations and cancer screenings. Treatment measures assess the proportion of eligible members who received the recommended care for conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and mental illness. A detailed methodology document for the 2015-2016 ratings is available here. Highest-Rated Medicaid MCOs for 2015-2016 As was the case under the previous ranking methodology, the highest-rated Medicaid MCOs for 2015-2016 are largely local and regional health plans, with only UnitedHealthcare’s Rhode Island plan achieving a rating of 4.5 or higher. Kaiser Foundation’s Hawaii plan was the only Medicaid MCO to receive a rating of 5 for 2015-2016. AmeriHealth Caritas, Anthem, Meridian, UnitedHealthcare, and Molina all have plans receiving a rating of 4 by NCQA. 2015/2016 NCQA Consumer Rating Plan Name States Accreditation Satisfaction Prevention Treatment 5 Kaiser Foundation Health Plan - Hawaii HI Yes 4 4.5 4 4.5 Capital District Physicians' Health Plan NY Yes 4 4 4 4.5 Fallon Health MA Yes 4 4.5 4 4.5 Jai Medical Systems MD Yes i 4 4 4.5 Neighborhood Health Plan MA Yes 3.5 4.5 4 4.5 Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island RI Yes 4 4.5 4 4.5 Priority Health MI Yes 4 4 3.5 4.5 Security Health Plan of Wisconsin WI Yes 4 3.5 4 4.5 THP-Network Health MA Yes 3 4.5 4 4.5 UnitedHealthcare Community Plan RI Yes 3.5 4.5 4 4.5 Upper Peninsula Health Plan MI Yes 4 4 4 Rhode Island, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Maryland are the top five states in terms of average Medicaid MCO rating. New York, New Hampshire, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Colorado, Utah, and Washington joined them in ranking above the U.S. average. Mississippi, Kansas, Illinois, California, and South Carolina make up the bottom five. PAGE 2 December 9, 2015 Overview of Larger and Multi-State Plan Ratings Overall, most of the larger and multi-state health plans averaged ratings slightly under the national average for health plan ratings in 2015/2016. Both Meridian and AmeriHealth Caritas averaged ratings across their plans above the national average. The table below summarizes the number of plans rated and average rating by health plan, and excludes those plans without a rating for 2015/2016. Number of Average 2015/2016 Health Plan Plans Rated Rating Aetna 10 3.20 AmeriHealth Caritas 6 3.42 Anthem 14 3.25 Centene 10 3.10 Humana 2 2.75 Meridian 3 4.00 Molina 11 3.18 UnitedHealthcare 17 3.24 WellCare 9 3.11 All Other Rated Plans 67 3.56 Total (All Rated Plans) 149 3.38 Full rankings available at: http://healthplanrankings.ncqa.org/ PAGE 3 December 9, 2015 Arkansas Governor Hutchinson to Hire Firm to Finish Medicaid Eligibility and Enrollment System. On December 3, 2015, Arkansas Online reported that Governor Asa Hutchinson has instructed the state Department of Human Services to hire a company to act as a systems integrator and finish implementation of the Medicaid eligibility and enrollment system. The unfinished system has doubled its expected cost and has been blamed for delays in processing applications and reviewing eligibility of those already enrolled. DHS said the department had already planned to hire a systems integrator to coordinate a phase of the project involving expanding the system to handle enrollment for all Medicaid recipients. Governor Hutchinson will also establish a statewide committee and a policy oversight committee to guide the system project. Read More California HMA Roundup – Don Novo (Email Don) Adventist Health to Take Over Health Net’s 13,000 Medi-Cal Members in King County. On December 8, 2015, The Fresno Bee reported that Adventist Health Plan will oversee consumer health benefits of 13,000 Medi-Cal members in Kings County for Health Net. Adventist Health/Central Valley Network operates four hospitals and 32 community clinics. Affected patients will keep their primary-care doctors and specialists and use the same hospitals. Read More Attorney General Approves Deal for Hedge Fund to Manage Daughters of Charity Health System. On December 4, 2015, SF Gate reported that California’s Attorney General Kamala Harris approved a deal for BlueMountain Capital Management, a New York-based hedge fund, to manage Daughters of Charity Health System. The deal is considered the state’s largest and most complex nonprofit hospital transaction. One of the restrictions of the deal is a requirement that four of the network’s hospitals — including Seton Medical Center, O’Connor and St. Louise Medical Center — remain as acute-care medical centers with emergency services for 10 years. Daughters of Charity has been losing $150 million a year. Under BlueMountain, Integrity Healthcare will manage the hospitals for up to 15 years and pay $100 million for the option to purchase the system at a certain point. This agreement also provides for $180 million in capital improvements for the Daughters’ sites. Daughters of Charity will be renamed Verity Health System. Read More PAGE 4 December 9, 2015 Twenty-three California Hospitals are identified as top performers by Leapfrog’s 2015 Hospital Survey. The 2015 Annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey identified 23 top performing California Hospitals, two of which are Children’s Hospitals. Hoag Memorial, Kaiser, University of California, St John’s of the Pleasant Valley, and Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Orange County were among the California top performing hospitals ranked by Leapfrog. The annual Leapfrog Survey is a list of hospitals that performed at the highest levels nationally, based on Leapfrog’s quality and safety standards. More than 1,600 hospitals report on those standards through the annual Leapfrog Hospital Survey. More details and the complete list of top performers can be found here. Connecticut Fight Over Medicaid Cuts Intensifies between Hospitals and Governor. On December 7, 2015, ctpost reported that hospitals have launched television ad campaigns targeting Governor Dannel P. Malloy for cutting Medicaid reimbursements. The Connecticut Hospital Association accused Malloy of reneging on Medicaid reimbursement rates and is threatening to sue the state over lost revenue. Malloy responded by shaming health care executives over their salaries and profit margins, calling it a “hospital industrial complex.” He said that to restore the $240 million in funding on top of a $500 million increase the hospitals are seeking, the state would be forced to increase taxes. Read More Florida HMA Roundup – Elaine Peters (Email Elaine) Children’s Medical Services to Resume Enrollment Next Month after Backlash. After facing extensive criticism for removing 9,000 children with special health needs from the Children’s Medical Services program between May and September of this year, the Florida Department of Health announced that they would reopen the program to new enrollees next month. The department faced a backlash from the media and state Senate by removing children with chronic and serious medical conditions as part of a wholesale reorganization of the program in conjunction with a law that moved the plan from fee-for-service to state-run managed care. The issue drew wide attention after a piece from the Miami Herald on December 5, 2015.