(NCQA: Washington) -- The National Committee for Quality Assurance recently updated its online Quality Compass, the nation’s most widely used database of health-plan performance. Quality Compass includes NCQA accreditation, Health Plan Employer and Data Information Set (HEDIS) clinical quality, and Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS) member-satisfaction data for more than 250 commercial health-plan products covering nearly 50 million Americans. Data for Medicaid managed-care plans will be available in September.

Quality Compass 2007 includes comparative performance information on several new measures of care and service. Notable among them are several measures that look at how well medications are managed. Annual Monitoring for Patients on Persistent Medications examines how well patients on medications such as ACE inhibitors or anticonvulsants are monitored in an effort to prevent adverse drug reactions. Such events account for more than 700,000 visits to emergency departments annually. Other new measures in Quality Compass 2007 include:

• Inappropriate Antibiotic Treatment for Adults with Acute Bronchitis

• Use of Spirometry Testing in the Assessment and Diagnosis of COPD

• Follow-up Care for Children Prescribed ADHD Medication

• Disease Modifying Anti-Rheumatic Drug Therapy in Rheumatoid Arthritis

• Childhood Immunization Status - Pneumococcal Conjugate

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