NCQA released its annual health plan ratings. Here's how payers fared

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) on Monday released its annual insurance ratings, with just five plans evaluated earning top marks.

NCQA's ratings include commercial, Medicare and Medicaid plans and assesses them based on patient experience and clinical quality for a score of between one and five stars. Only two plans earned the lowest possible rating and just five earned a full five stars.

Most plans included in the ratings earned between three and four stars, according to the report. Of the 1,019 plans studied, 234 earned a three-star rating, 363 earned 3.5 stars and 264 earned four stars.

Of the five-star plans, three were commercial and two were Medicare Advantage, according to the analysis. 

“Annual Health Plan Ratings are vital to providing health care consumers with transparent and objective information about the quality and performance of health plans," said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. "Ratings not only help individuals make informed choices to receive the best possible care but also motivate health plans to improve their operations, with a focus on quality, equity and accountability."

The committee said it continues to update its methodology for the ratings to account for health equity and disparities. For this year's ratings, it boosted the scoring threshold for the racial/ethnic diversity of membership measure as well as grew the weight of this data point.

The group said collecting and measuring data on race and ethnicity is critical to closing disparity gaps.

Overall, the ratings are based on about 50 assessments tracking patient outcomes and experience, including HEDIS scores and the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.

Editor's note: A previous version of this headline referred to the ratings as rankings.