Washington

Did you know that the quality of care from health maintenance organizations is going up? Yep, that's the word from the National Committee for Quality Assurance, a private, nonprofit group that accredits HMOs.

The fourth annual State of Managed Care Quality report graded 466 health plans on 18 clinical quality measures, such as diabetes care, high blood pressure, heart disease prevention and childhood immunizations.

Some of the notable improvements: 85 percent of health plan members who had heart attacks in 1999 received beta blockers compared with 62 percent in 1996; 69 percent of members were screened for cholesterol after heart attacks compared with 59 percent in 1998; and more than 65 percent of 2-year-olds received chicken pox vaccine compared with 41 percent in 1997.

There's plenty of room for improvement in other areas, however, the report concluded. Controlling patients' high blood pressure, for example, was all over the board, with rates seesawing from 28 to 48 percent. And diabetic eye exam rates ranged from 66 percent to only 28 percent.