APPLETON, Wis., July 27, 2006 — Quest Analytics, a leader in health care network analysis software tools, in collaboration with industry-leading health plans and benefits consulting firms, has identified two significant gaps in how employers have been analyzing health plan access.
Urban, Suburban & Rural Access
"While adding access analysis capabilities to the Quest Analytics Suite," says David Hill, CTO of Quest Analytics, "we found that older tools in the industry were utilizing outdated zip code classification techniques based on assumptions of population density relative to the physical size of a zip code." Using this older population density method, over 94 million people in urban areas nationwide are incorrectly classified as suburban or rural.
Understanding the need to accurately classify populations at the zip code level, Quest Analytics developed a new method of assigning classifications that directly leverages Census Bureau statistics. The following table compares the national breakdown of both methodologies compared to US Census results:
Urban Suburban Rural
US Census 68.4% 10.7% 20.9%
Quest Analytics 68.3% 10.8% 20.9%
Density Method 34.8% 19.3% 45.9%
Access to Quality Providers
As health care quality transparency continues to emerge as a strategic approach to managing health care cost increases, employers are seeking decision support tools to assist them with plan selection and consultants who can provide them with information to make informed decisions. "While access is and will remain an important part of selecting a health plan, the ability to factor quality into the equation is a significant advantage," according to Dave Jones, Leader of Provider Profiling for Watson Wyatt. "Our customers don't just want to see how many employees have access to one provider within 15 miles, but how many of them have access to one high-quality provider within 15 miles."
The Quest Analytics Suite fully integrates quality data such as risk-adjusted outcomes and patient safety measures, making it easy for employers, consultants and health plans to measure access and quality together in a single analysis, answering questions such as:
– Which health plan best meets your needs?
– What are a given health plan's strengths and weaknesses?
– Are a health plan's strengths aligned with your spending?
– How do health plans in my area compare to each other?
– What impact does a high-performance network have on access?
The Quest Analytics Suite blends functionality for cost, quality and access analysis together to fill these important gaps. Quest Analytics prides itself on bringing innovative software solutions to the market that continuously evolve to ensure that all stakeholders have access to timely, relevant and accurate information for tasks such as network design and comparison, marketing, plan selection, provider contracting and much more.
About Quest Analytics
Quest Analytics, L.L.C. provides software solutions to health plans, consultants and employers to evaluate health care provider access, cost and quality measures. Through the Quest Analytics Suite, customers can generate an analysis on any health plan in any U.S. market. For more information, visit http://www.questanalytics.com.
Contact:
John P. Weis
920.739.4552
Email