WellCare Receives NCQA Quality Accreditation for Medicaid and Medicare Health Plans in Florida

TAMPA, Fla., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WellCare Health Plans, Inc. WCG today announced that the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) has awarded an accreditation status of Accredited to its Medicaid and Medicare health plans in Florida.

NCQA accreditation evaluates the quality of health care that health plans provide to their members. It is a nationally recognized evaluation that consumers can use to assess health plans. To earn accreditation, NCQA evaluates how well a health plan manages all parts of its delivery system, which covers physicians, hospitals, other providers and administrative services. NCQA accreditation provides consumers with an unprecedented ability to evaluate the quality of different health plans along a variety of important criteria, and to make their health plan decisions based on demonstrated value rather than simply on cost.

"Achieving an Accreditation status from NCQA is a sign that a health plan is serious about quality," said Margaret E. O'Kane, president, NCQA. "It is awarded to plans whose service and clinical quality meet or exceed NCQA's rigorous requirements for consumer protection and quality improvement."

"Our commitment to quality is demonstrated through these accreditation results and reflected in our efforts to continually raise the quality of services and care we provide to low-income children, families, disabled residents, and seniors in Florida," said Gregg MacDonald, state president for WellCare of Florida. "We achieve this through partnerships with high-performing physicians and hospitals and by working directly with members to ensure they have access to the right care, at the right time, in the right setting."

Consumers can easily access NCQA statuses and other information about health care quality on NCQA's website at www.ncqa.org, or by calling NCQA customer support at (888) 275-7585.

As of Dec. 31, 2015, WellCare serves approximately 781,000 Medicaid members, 55,000 Florida Healthy Kids members, 107,000 Medicare Advantage members and 39,000 Medicare Prescription Drug Plan members in Florida.

About NCQA
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information for consumers, purchasers, health care providers and researchers.

About WellCare Health Plans, Inc.
Headquartered in Tampa, Fla., WellCare Health Plans, Inc. WCG focuses exclusively on providing government-sponsored managed care services, primarily through Medicaid, Medicare Advantage and Medicare Prescription Drug Plans, to families, children, seniors and individuals with complex medical needs. The Company serves approximately 3.8 million members nationwide as of Dec. 31, 2015. For more information about WellCare, please visit the Company's website at www.wellcare.com.

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SOURCE WellCare Health Plans, Inc.