Cat Gets H1N1 Swine Flu	Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:06:11 EST
H1N1 swine flu was detected in a 13-year-old Iowa cat after two members of the family that owns the cat fell ill. The cat, and both humans, recovered.

Recently we announced that we would cover and reimburse for the administrative costs for vaccine administration, regardless of the member’s benefit plan. We would like to encourage primary care physicians and obstetricians who participate in our commercial, Medicare and Medicaid networks to immediately contact the state or local health officials leading the campaign in your local area if you are interested in participating in the H1N1 vaccine program. You can identify the contact in your state by visiting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Web site at www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/statecontacts.htm.

If you choose to not administer the vaccine, we encourage you to identify physicians in the UnitedHealthcare/AmeriChoice network and immunization clinics in your local area that will offer H1N1 immunizations for your patients who are insured by UnitedHealthcare/AmeriChoice. You can access a searchable list of in-network physicians and other health care professionals by visiting AmeriChoice.com under Tools>Find a Physician or by visiting the Web site listed on the back of your patients’ heath care ID card.

In the days to come we will have more information and guidance concerning this effort including billing and reimbursement information, but it is important that you take action now to participate in this important effort. We thank you for your attention to this matter and for the care you provide to UnitedHealthcare/AmeriChoice members.

Vaccine Administration Fees

Our accreditation status – the highest level achievable – was awarded after rigorous evaluation by NCQA of all aspects of our plan, including preventive health services, member satisfaction, physician credentialing and quality improvement.

The review included both on- and off-site evaluations conducted by a team of physicians and managed care experts. A committee of physicians then analyzed the team's findings and assigned us an Excellent status based on our performance compared to NCQA standards.

Studies widely reported in the trade and lay press have shown that health plans earning NCQA Accreditation outperform non-accredited health plans across a variety of measures of clinical quality and member satisfaction. Earning NCQA Accreditation recognizes the commitment of our organization to provide quality products to our members and demonstrates that we have incorporated quality improvement into our standard operating procedures.

Each of you, in your work with your patients – our members – contributed to our achieving accreditation. It is an important accomplishment in which we should all take pride. We thank you for your ongoing support and look forward to working with you for many years to come.