Cesarean section rates should be low, since they're more risky for many pregnant women than traditional deliveries. Pap smear and mammography rates should be high, and can be a good indicator of how well plans are doing at keeping patients of both genders healthy. This is an especially good measure because, unlike mammograms or Pap smears, patients are unlikely to ask for beta blockers, says Michael Chernew, an economist in the University of Michigan School of Public Health who does research on health plan report cards. So the numbers closely reflect what the plan or the doctors are doing on their own. The exhaustive process measures how the plan does in everything from handling patient complaints to immunizing children.
Full accreditation is best, with one year accreditation a distant second.
She suggests that plans should have been around for 15 to 20 years. We tell you how long these plans have operated. Every company listed here is nonprofit. You can find this on our Web site. It's the percentage of doctors in the plan who are accepting new patients.