“The Alliance” Honored by CDHC

The Central California Alliance for Health (the Alliance), the local, Medi-Cal managed health care plan serving more than 330,000 residents in Santa Cruz, Monterey and Merced counties, recently won the Outstanding Performance award in the Medium Scale Plan category for delivering high-quality care to its Medi-Cal members.

The award was presented by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS), Managed Care Quality and Monitoring Division, at the DHCS annual Quality Conference, which was recently held in Sacramento. it is a result of the Alliance’s excellent performance within the Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS(r)), one of health care’s most widely used performance improvement tools.

Managed annually by DHCS, HEDIS(r) was created by the National Committee for Quality Assurance and includes measures across six domains of care — Effectiveness of Care, Access/Availability of Care, Experience of Care, Utilization and Risk Adjusted Utilization, Health Plan Descriptive Information, and Measures Collected Using Electronic Clinical Data Systems – and reports on the prior year’s medical care delivery performance.

“As all health plans statewide are working towards improving their HEDIS(r) performance each year, coming in at the top is quite an achievement,” said Dale Bishop, MD, Chief Medical Officer at the Alliance. “We are proud to receive this award; it is a tribute to the hard work and team effort across the entire organization and represents the quality of care that our Alliance providers deliver to our members.”

Across 53 California Medi-Cal health plan regions, three distinct awards are given each year per population size of the health plan (small, medium or large). The Alliance received the top award in the state for medium-sized health plans. The Alliance also surpassed its own performance from last year, when it was awarded “Overall Most Improved.”

“The Alliance is committed to providing quality health care to our members who depend on us to improve and support their overall health”, said Stephanie Sonnenshine, the Alliance’s CEO. “This award serves as even more encouragement to improve upon our performance.”

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Central California Alliance for Health was established in 1996 and serves over 333,000 members in Santa Cruz, Monterey and Merced counties. Using the state’s County Organized Health System model, the Alliance delivers innovative community-based health care services with the goal to improve medical outcomes and cost savings.

The award-winning plan employs nearly 600 staff members in the three counties and manages a budget of $1.1 billion. The Alliance prides itself on its close partnership with contracted providers to promote prevention, early detection and effective treatment, and overall to improve access to quality health care for its members.

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http://www.ccah-alliance.org/pdfs/Alliance_Fact_Sheet.pdf