Tufts Health Plan's Medicare Preferred HMO and Senior Care Options Plans Earn 4.5 Stars

The following is a press release:

Recognized for its quality and performance, Tufts Health Plan has earned 4.5 Stars out of a possible 5 for its Tufts Medicare Preferred HMO and Senior Care Options plans from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services as part of their annual Star ratings for 2015.

The Tufts Medicare Preferred HMO, a Medicare Advantage plan, has received a 4.5 Star rating from Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services for five consecutive years.

Tufts Medicare Preferred is the largest Medicare Advantage plan in Massachusetts with over 104,000 members.

Tufts Medical has an adult primary care practice in Framingham.

“We work in collaboration with our contracted physician groups to continually improve the service and care our members receive. Earning a high rating in the Star program reflects our efforts and the value we place on quality, member satisfaction and outcomes for our members,” said Patty Blake, president, senior products in a press release. “The incredibly important work we do to keep our members healthy is a true team effort.”

Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services calculates Star ratings from 1 to 5 (with 5 being the best) based on quality and performance for Medicare health and drug plans to help beneficiaries, their families and caregivers compare plans.

Ratings are given for quality measures across five categories for plans covering health services: staying healthy, managing chronic conditions, member satisfaction, customer service and pharmacy services.

For plans covering drug services, the quality measures fall into four categories: drug plan customer service, member complaints and changes in the drug plan’s performance, member experience with plan’s drug services, and drug safety and accuracy of drug pricing.

Tufts Medicare Preferred HMO and Senior Care Options plans received 5 Stars in 25 out of 41 measures including:

· Member satisfaction measures such as Overall Rating of Health Plan, Rating of Health Care Quality and Overall Rating of Drug Plan

· Health measures such as Controlling Blood Pressure, Colorectal Screening and Cholesterol Screening

· Service measures such as Customer Service, Low Volume of Complaints and Low Volume of Members Choosing to Leave the Plan

This high rating follows the recent ranking of Tufts Health Plan as the #1 private health insurance plan and the #1 Medicaid health insurance plan, known as Network Health, by the National Committee of Quality Assurance’s Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2014-2015.

Medicare evaluates plans based on a 5-Star rating system. Star ratings are calculated each year and may change from one year to the next.

Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred is an HMO plan with a Medicare contract.