PQA recognizes five Medicare plans

Five Medicare plans received Pharmacy Quality Alliance (PQA) Quality Awards, the organization announced Tuesday.

Three recipients -- the Humana Benefit Plan of Illinois, the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Northwest, and the Group Health Cooperative -- will receive the Excellence in Quality Award which indicates high levels of achievement in performance and quality medication use.

“These awards are unique in that they are based solely on publicly available quality scores," PQA Executive Director Laura Cranston said. "The effective use of medications is a top issue for all providers, and it is also extremely important within the Medicare program. PQA seeks to hold these organizations up as examples in the achievement of top medication management performance in the care of their Medicare members. The high standards for excellence and improvement set forth in the criteria for these two distinct awards mean that the recipients are truly outstanding in their management of patients and in their practices to ensure optimal medication outcomes.”

The Denver Health Medical Plan and UnitedHealthcare Insurance Company of New York received a new award given this year to recognize quality improvement.

Awards will be presented to winners during a ceremony and dinner Thursday.