Health plan accreditation: NCQA, JCAHO, or both?

Currently the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (the Joint Commission) accredit managed care organizations (MCOs), but is competition in the market for plan accreditation beneficial or counterproductive? This paper presents the results from two surveys that were administered to a group of large public and private purchasers, and representatives from the American Association of Health Plans and the Centers for Disease Control, who attended the Lovelace Health System (LHS) "Accreditation Experience" program. The LHS program was designed to inform purchasers about the NCQA and Joint Commission accreditation processes. The surveys captured purchaser views about the advantages and disadvantages of both accreditation processes, the value of accreditation, and the use of plan performance measures.