Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is the Nation's #1 Private Health Plan on NCQA's 2010-11 Health Insurance Ranking List

Harvard Pilgrim is nation's top-ranked plan for the seventh consecutive year

WELLESLEY, Mass., Sept. 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is the #1 private health plan in America again according to an annual ranking of the nation's best health plans by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).* Harvard Pilgrim is the only private health plan in the nation to be named #1 for member satisfaction and quality of care for seven consecutive years.** Harvard Pilgrim Health Care of New England, Harvard Pilgrim's New Hampshire affiliate, is the third highest rated private health plan in America and the top-ranked plan in New Hampshire.

"Harvard Pilgrim continues to top the nation's best health plan rankings by continuously delivering superior customer service and by helping to improve the health of our members," said Eric Schultz, President and CEO of Harvard Pilgrim. "We do this while tightly managing medical and administrative spending and, in fact, we spend nearly 90 cents of every dollar we collect on medical care for our members."

Schultz noted that Harvard Pilgrim, which was founded by physicians more than 40 years ago, continues to have physicians, nurses and other clinicians actively involved in leading the non-profit health plan. "Harvard Pilgrim thanks our provider partners for delivering superb health care to our members. We understand that supporting the patient/physician relationship is one of our most important responsibilities. For the patient, we offer ready access to the health tools and coverage information they need to make informed decisions about their care. For the physician, we offer medical management expertise and state-of-the-art data exchange to give them more time for patient care, rather than administrative detail."

The NCQA Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-11* list is drawn from measures of prevention, treatment and customer experience. Health plans throughout the country were evaluated on issues such as access to care, prevention efforts and treatment of diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease. Members were surveyed on their satisfaction to calculate an overall quality score. For more information, please visit NCQA's Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-2011.

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care is a not-for-profit health plan that provides a variety of insurance plan options and self-funding arrangements to more than one million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine. Harvard Pilgrim provides innovative approaches to health improvement and disease management, unique online tools that speed and simplify key transactions for employers and providers and personalized health support. For more information, please visit http://www.harvardpilgrim.org.

* NCQA's Health Insurance Plan Rankings 2010-11 – Private

** U.S. News/NCQA America's Best Health Insurance Plans 2005-2009 (annual). America's Best Health Insurance Plans is a trademark of U.S. News & World Report. NCQA The State of Health Care Quality 2004

SOURCE Harvard Pilgrim Health Care