The National Committee for Quality Assurance has extensively updated its Web site. The redesign effort, which began six months ago, was fueled by the rapidly growing consumer movement in health care — more and more people are turning to the Web for information about health plans, health care and even individual providers.
“NCQA.org has always been the premier site on the Web for information about health plan quality, but our mission is broader than that,” says Esther Emard, COO of the NCQA. “The redesign of our site allows us to use the interactive technology of the Web to further our goal of improving health care.”
In March, the NCQA introduced its popular Health Plan Report Card, a free, online consumer resource providing performance and quality information on the nation’s managed care plans. The influx of new visitors generated by the HPRC led the NCQA to tailor the site to the consumer’s needs.
Content is divided into two distinct tracks, consumer and professional. Features popular with consumers, such as HPRC and updated health-related news, comprise the centerpiece of the home page, allowing the consumer to glean information quickly and easily. Similarly, the programs page — where most of the site’s technical content is featured — includes notices about key policy updates, pending releases and other important notices for the site’s professional visitors.
For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.
The NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. More than three-quarters of Americans enrolled in HMOs are in plans that have been reviewed by the NCQA.
