In an annual HMO report card rife with "poor" and "fair" marks from California consumers, none of the state's top HMOs captured an "excellent" rating on such quality of health care measures as "care for getting better" or "care for living with illness."

In fact, the only "excellent" mark earned by 10 of California's largest HMOs went to Kaiser Permanente South for "care for staying healthy." Otherwise, the HMO rated "good" in three of the five quality of health care measures, but scored a "poor" in "care for living with illness."

No one from Kaiser Permanente South was immediately available for comment on the report.

Not all the state's HMOs and medical groups are included in the report card. Participation in the ratings report is voluntary and ranks plans according to consumers' overall quality of care, access to treatments and specialists, communication with doctors and health plans, and timeliness of care and service.

"The HMOs didn't do very well on measures that aren't very tough," says Jamie Court, spokesperson for the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights. "It's like failing a basic literacy test."

How to read the data

Produced by the California Office of the Patient Advocate (OPA), the report uses 2001 data from more than 35,000 California HMO patients. It includes information for the state's top 10 HMOs, which enroll 95 percent of the state's managed care consumers. The report also contains information on 80 of the state's largest medical groups. The HMOs and medical groups are placed in one of four categories:

• Excellent: This grade means that more than 80 percent of the health plan members had a positive experience or got the right care.
  
• Good: This grade means that three of every four of the health plan's members had a positive experience or got the right care.
  
• Fair:This grade means that about two-thirds of the health plan's members had a positive experience or got the right care.
  
• Poor: This grade means that fewer than 60 percent of the health plan's members had a positive experience or got the right care.

To find out more about your medical group or HMO, visit the OPA's Web site.

California HMO ratings (2001 data)
HMO	Care for staying healthy	Care for getting better	Care for living with illness	Doctor services	Plan service
Aetna U.S. Healthcare	**	*	**	**	*
Blue Cross HMO California Care	**	*	*	**	**
Blue Shield of California	**	*	*	**	*
CIGNA HealthCare of California	**	*	**	**	*
Health Net	*	*	*	**	*
Kaiser Permanente North	**	**	*	**	**
Kaiser Permanente South	***	**	*	**	**
PacifiCare of California	**	**	**	**	*
Universal Care	--	*	--	**	**
Western Health Advantage	*	--	--	**	**
Ratings key: Excellent (* * *) Good (* *) Fair (*) Poor (—)
Source: California Office of the Patient Advocate