Blue Plus earns 4.5 out of 5 overall rating for 2021 National Committee for Quality Assurance Medicaid Health Plan Ratings

EAGAN, Minn. (Oct. 1, 2021) – Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and Blue Plus today announced that the Blue Plus HMO has received a 4.5 out of 5 rating overall in the 2021 National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) Medicaid Health Plan Ratings, with a score of 5 out of 5 for patient experience. The 4.5 rating places Blue Plus in the top 9% of the 185 Medicaid plans rated throughout the country. Additionally, Blue Plus is the only Minnesota health plan to have earned the NCQA Multicultural Health Care Distinction.

“This accomplishment highlights our dedication to serving our members well and ensuring they receive the proper care,” said Monica Engel, senior vice president at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and CEO of Blue Plus. “Blue Cross is committed to improving health care. We are proud to earn high marks from NCQA, as it continues to be one of the most important quality standards for health plans that are entrusted to administer state medical assistance programs.”

NCQA ratings assess health plans across the three focus areas of patient experience, prevention and treatment using three types of quality measures: measures of clinical quality from NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Health Outcome Survey (HOS); measures of patient experience using the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS); and results from NCQA’s review of a health plan’s health quality processes (NCQA Accreditation). NCQA rates health plans that choose to report measures publicly.

NCQA is an independent, not-for-profit organization dedicated to assessing and reporting on the quality of managed care plans, managed behavioral health care organizations, preferred provider organizations, new health plans, physician organizations, credentials verification organizations, disease management programs and other health-related programs. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and manages the evolution of HEDIS, the performance measurement tool used by more than 90 percent of the nation’s health plans.

Multicultural Health Care (MHC) Distinction is a nationally recognized evaluation that purchasers, regulators, and consumers can use to assess which organizations have earned distinction by meeting rigorous standards in serving a diverse population. The MHC program evaluates how well an organization complies with the standards for the following areas: collection of race/ethnicity and language data; provision of language assistance; cultural responsiveness; quality improvement of culturally and linguistically appropriate services, and reduction of health care disparities.