How to Use This Report

The Iowa Department of Personnel would like to share with you more information about the health insurance plans from which you have to choose. This booklet shows what State of Iowa employees told us about their health insurance plan, their healthcare provider, their ability to get the care they need, and other important health care issues.
 

How Do I Use this Information?

As you go through this report, you may find that some of the topics are very important to you. Others may be less important. Read the questions and answers carefully and decide which questions are most important to you. Consider those answers as you choose your health plan for this year.
 

How Are the Results Shown?

The results are presented in this booklet in two ways:

• Bar graphs are used to show the range of the responses for each question. (Note: Areas of the bar that do not display a number and a % sign equal less than 5%).
• Diamonds are used to represent how each plan did compared to the average for all plans for each question.  The table below shows how the diamonds should be interpreted.

	This plan did better than the average of the other plans.
	This plan did not differ from the average of the other plans.
	This plan did less well than the average of the other plans.

Several of the items in this survey present information for employee plan members as a whole and contain a separate measure for those employees who use a lot of healthcare.  The use of a lot of healthcare is defined as having three or more healthcare visits in the last six months.
 

About this Report

The information presented in this report summarizes the views of State of Iowa employees about their health plans. The Iowa Department of Personnel is sponsoring this effort in Iowa to determine the feasibility of bringing information about health plan quality into the decision-making process for State of Iowa employees as they choose their health insurance plans.

The survey process, analysis and production of this report were completed by researchers at the University of Iowa Public Policy Center in collaboration with the Department of Personnel and researchers at RAND. This report and the survey with which this information was collected are part of a national project called the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS). CAHPS is sponsored nationally by the US Public Health Service, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, and developed through cooperative agreements with Harvard University, RAND and Research Triangle Institute.

No attempt has been made to make any recommendations about specific health plans or consumer choices. None of the results express any opinions of the Department of Personnel or the University of Iowa Public Policy Center. This project was not sponsored or conducted by the individual health plans.