HEDIS® Data Release
The Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is a set of standardized performance measures that assess the quality of health care and services provided by managed care plans. HEDIS® was developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) in conjunction with public and private purchasers, health plans, researchers, and consumer advocates. A subset of HEDIS measures are relevant for the Medicare population.
Effective January 1, 1997, HCFA began collecting HEDIS measures on health care quality and services provided in calendar year 1996 from all Medicare managed care plans, which include all section 1876 risk and cost health plans, all Social Health Maintenance Organizations (S/HMOs) and all Medicare Choice demonstrations. HCFA has continued the collection of HEDIS data in subsequent years.
The HEDIS data available at this web site are the results of all four years of HEDIS measures from Medicare managed care plans. This web site also contains (1) documentation to accompany each individual year of HEDIS data, (2) a report detailing HCFA’s collection and audit process as well as the data’s limitations and HCFA’s analysis of the data, and (3) the executive summary of the findings from the 1997 audit of Medicare HEDIS data.
HCFA uses selected HEDIS measures for its national Medicare Education Program, which encourages more informed health plan choice by Medicare beneficiaries through various education initiatives, such as the Medicare Health Plan Compare Internet Site.
The HEDIS measure descriptions reprinted on this site are done so with the permission of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (“NCQA”). HEDIS® is a registered trademark of NCQA, and copyrights for HEDIS® 3.0, HEDIS® 3.0/1998, HEDIS® 1999 and HEDIS® 2000 are held by the National Committee for Quality Assurance, 2000 L Street, NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC 20036. All rights reserved.
For more information on NCQA and HEDIS, visit NCQA’s web site at www.ncqa.org.
Click to access Agreement for use of Medicare Managed Care Plan Data.
