NCQA Monitors PPO Quality
The National Committee for Quality Assurance, which accredits managed care plans, will soon expand its oversight role with the nation's preferred provider organizations (PPOs), a huge healthcare sector that hasn't been subjected to the same scrutiny for quality as HMOs. That's about to change with the NCQA's quality assessment initiatives that roll out this fall with a more comprehensive evaluation follow-up in mid-2000.
The NCQA has been accrediting managed care plans since 1991, and many leading employers will not do business with a health plan unless it meets the NCQA's rigorous review process. Since PPOs far outnumber HMOs (1,035 to 650), the absence of this kind of quality-based data for PPOs has proven frustrating for both employers and consumers relying on the data to make informed decisions about measuring PPO performance and customer satisfaction.
The forthcoming PPO survey will be adapted from the existing managed care evaluation criteria and will include:
- questions designed to rate member's experience with PPOs;
- how well appeals procedures work;
- whether there are any obstacles to accessing care, claims processing and customer service.
(NCQA, Barry Scholl, 202/955-5197, http://www.ncqa.org)
Clinical Trials Get Wired
A joint effort between drkoop.com and Quintiles Transnational is expected to boost qualified patient access to clinical trials. The Quintiles-drkoop.com Clinical Trials Information Center will allow interested individuals to sign up online for possible participation in clinical drug trials posted on the http://www.drkoop.com Web site.
This partnership addresses a key healthcare research challenge - bridging the gap between patient awareness and clinical trials. The center, located at http://www.drkoop.com/hcr/trials, will give drkoop.com's 1.5 million visitors access to information about clinical trials under way to test new drugs in oncology, women's health and other therapeutic areas. The center also will include:
- A summary of the clinical trial;
- Inclusion and exclusion criteria; and
- Contact information for the closest or most appropriate clinical site.
Neither the trial sponsor nor the investigational drug being studied is identified to the patient. The site soon will feature interactive questionnaires to pre-screen participants, which are expected to improve the patient referral process for clinical sites.
(drkoop.com, http://www.drkoop.com)
One-Stop Broadcast/Online Communications Opportunity
A new alliance marries video news release services with electronic press release distribution. Last month, PR Newswire and Orbis Broadcast Group announced a unique multimedia PR partnership that will allow its clients to reach a wider audience of online, national and international media.
PRNewswire has expanded its service offerings to include now offers production and distribution of video and audio news releases, b-roll packages, satellite media tours and public service announcements. In addition, streaming video news releases are posted on PRN's exclusive media site, the PRN Press room located at http://www.prnmedia.com.
"By leveraging the strengths of each company, we've created a multimedia video news release package that not only puts a client's story in front of millions of TV viewers, but also delivers the story to over 15,000 journalists and directly into the homes and offices of consumers via the Internet," says John M. Williams, PRN's SVP.
(PR Newswire, Renu K. Aldrich, [email protected])
Tobacco RFP Posted Online
The Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) National Foundation in Washington, D.C. is using its Web site, http://www.anti-tobaccorfp.org, to invite communications firms to submit proposals for a comprehensive nationwide anti-tobacco campaign. The only requirement is agencies must visit the site to find out more about the RFP. The Web site allows agencies to download the RFP and post questions about the creative process. All inquiries will be answered via the Web site and a comprehensive Q&A section will archive all agency questions. No phone calls regarding the RFP will be accepted.
The MSA National Foundation is paid an annual budget of $300 million by the tobacco industry. It was established to combat tobacco use as part of a master agreement between the National Association of Attorneys General and the tobacco industry.
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