(LANSING, MI) - Financial and Insurance Services Commissioner Frank M. Fitzgerald today announced the release of the second annual Michigan Office of Financial and Insurance Services (OFIS) Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) Consumer Guide. This year, the guide includes new information such as HMO complaint statistics, updated NCQA accreditations, and enrollment breakdowns.

"The OFIS HMO Consumer Guide provides important information about the quality of Michigan HMOs," said Commissioner Fitzgerald. "With this second edition, the guide also provides multiple year information that will be useful in tracking HMO performance."

The 2001 interactive consumer guide is available on the Internet at http://www.michigan.gov/cis/0,1607,7-154-10555_13222_13224-34152--,00.html. The web-based guide allows consumers to look up HMOs that are available in their area and create their own report card. Copies of the guide are also available by calling OFIS toll free at (877) 999-6442.

The quality assessment information in the OFIS HMO Consumer Guide is based on the Health Employer Data Information Set ® (HEDIS) from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). The nationally standardized HEDIS categories in the guide include:

• Access and Service - includes an overall rating of the plan to help determine member satisfaction,
• Dr. Communication and Service,
• Staying Healthy - includes measurements on immunizations, child and adolescent care, maternity care, and women's health (breast and cervical cancer), and
• Getting Better/Living With Illness - includes measurements on mental health care and advice to quit smoking.

A new component of the 2001 OFIS HMO Consumer Guide is complaint statistics for Michigan HMOs. This information is a result of the Patients Right to Independent Review Act that was passed in the summer of 2000. Complaints against HMOs go through an internal review process and are then eligible for independent review at OFIS. Information on this process is available by calling OFIS toll free at (877) 999-6442 or at www.michigan.gov/cis/1,1607,7-154-10555_12902_12907---,00.html.

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The Michigan Offices of Financial and Insurance Services (OFIS) is responsible for the regulation of Blue Cross Blue Shield, 29 HMOs, 145 banks, 175 domestic insurance companies, 291 credit unions, 1,300 foreign insurance companies, 1,583 investment advisers, 2,164 securities broker-dealers, 6,000 consumer finance lenders, 89,000 insurance agents, and 120,715 securities agents. OFIS is part of the Department of Consumer and Industry Services and is primarily fee-funded, requiring minimal public tax dollars for its regulatory and consumer assistance activities. OFIS has insurance, financial institutions and securities information available on the web at www.michigan.gov or on the OFIS home page at www.michigan.gov/ofis.

If you would like to receive OFIS press releases electronically, please e-mail ofis-info@michigan.gov.