QCA, Mercy HMOs Low in Weiss Ratings

Mercy Health Plans of Missouri and QCA Health Plan Inc. rated lowest in Arkansas on Weiss Ratings Inc.’s recent list of financially stable health maintenance organizations. The two were respectively rated D, for weak, and E, for very weak.

Income figures as of March 31 for Mercy Health Plans showed a net loss of $153,000, compared with a $120,000 net profit for March 1999. QCA Health Plan listed a net loss of $907,000 for March, down from a March 1999 loss of $723,000.

United Healthcare of Arkansas and Healthlink HMO Inc. were the highest ranked HMOs in the state, graded B, for good.

Net income for United Healthcare in March totaled $18,000, down from $56,000 last March. Healthlink, rated B-minus, netted $1.036 million, up from $727,000 for March 1999.

Studying 572 HMOs in the nation, Weiss Ratings gave its lowest rating of E to 78 organizations, and 162 were graded. Totaling less than 1 percent of all studied, four HMOs in the United States received A’s, for excellent.

Weiss credits its ratings toward analysis of a company’s risk-adjusted capital, five-year historical profitability, liquidity and projected stability.