Ten Health Plans Recognized by NCQA for Bridging Cultural And Linguistic Divides in Health Care

WASHINGTON, Sept. 13, 2006 – Ten managed care plans from across the country were recognized today for their innovative programs to deliver quality care to linguistically, racially and ethnically diverse populations. As the nations minority population has significantly increased and minorities tend to get lower quality care, the awarded plans have created solutions that aim to address the needs of all health care consumers.

Winners of the "Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award are : Aetna, Blue Cross of California Partnership Plan, Inc., CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (Maryland), Chinese Community Health Plan (San Francisco), Health Net of California, HealthPartners (Minnesota), Kaiser Permanente, Keystone Mercy Health Plan (Philadelphia), L.A. Care Health Plan, and Molina Healthcare of Michigan.

The awardees were recognized by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a leading national health care quality organization.

The award arose from projects conducted by NCQAwith major funding from The California Endowment and support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servicesto investigate the feasibility for health plans to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care and to monitor health care disparities using clinical quality data.

"As America moves rapidly towards becoming a majority of minorities, its imperative for health plans and providers to break down language and cultural barriers to high-quality care, said NCQA President Margaret OKane. "These health plans have created innovative solutions that serve as a model for others to replicate."

The award was created to identify best practices that address health disparities and to encourage managed care organizations to deliver high quality care to linguistically, racially and ethnically diverse populations. NCQA is also making demonstration grants to small physician practices to undertake new efforts to improve care for minority patients.

"Many patients suffer cultural and language barriers that can lead to adverse, and sometimes fatal, health consequences, said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment. "It is vital that both health plans and physicians provide services that enable all consumers regardless of race, ethnicity, or English proficiency to have equal access to quality health care."

The winning programs, selected from among 61 applications by an independent panel of experts, typically focused efforts on African-American, Latino, and Asian populations.

Several of the programs deal with specific health disparities such as immunization rates and care for asthma, diabetes, pediatric obesity, cervical cancer or cardiovascular disease. Other programs focused on language accessibility and translation. One awardee created the nations first cross-border health plan.

• Aetna - "Voluntary Race/Ethnicity and Language Data Collection Program enables Aetna to put this critical information to work in combination with other member health data to develop and deliver targeted initiatives and outreach programs to address health issues prevalent among racial/ethnic minorities



• Blue Cross of California Partnership Plan, Inc. - "Asthma and Ethnic Disparities: The Pharmacist Helps Close the Gap serves ethnically diverse and low income members who have a higher risk of uncontrolled asthma symptoms based on their current medication profile via pharmacy education.



• CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield - A multi-disciplinary approach focused on diabetes in Latinos, cervical cancer among Vietnamese women, and cardiovascular disease among African-Americans.



• Chinese Community Health Plan - A comprehensive bilingual health education website offering monolingual Chinese consumers access to up-to-date education materials developed specifically for the Chinese population.



• Health Net of California - "Salud con Health Net is the first cross-border health care plan to offer affordable, high-quality care in California and Mexico.



• HealthPartners - On-site and in-person language assistance services in 11 languages - including American Sign Language - and telephone access to interpreter services for more than 150 languages.



• Kaiser Permanente (Georgia, N. Calif., Mid-Atlantic) To address the serious shortage of qualified health care interpreters, two programs were created: The Qualified Bilingual Staff (QBS) Model, a pragmatic approach that uses its existing bilingual workforce; and in collaboration with academic institutions, The Health Care Interpreter Certificate Program (HCICP) offers training programs, and national certification standards across the nation.



• Keystone Mercy Health Plan - "Healthy Hoops is a community-based program that uses basketball as a platform to teach children with asthma and their families how to properly take medication and manage asthma, along with the importance of regular exercise and nutrition to maintain a healthy lifestyle.



• L.A. Care Health Plan - Pediatric Weight Management program tackles obesity prevention and treatment for African-Americans and Latinos through a comprehensive, research-based education program and physician toolkit.



• Molina Healthcare of Michigan - "Shots for Shorties reaches out to African American parents to increase childhood and adolescent immunization rates.

More information is available on all these programs at www.ncqa.org/Education/index.htm.

According to the acclaimed 2002 Institute of Medicine study, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, minorities tend to get lower quality health care than whites, even when such factors as medical conditions, insurance and economic status are equivalent.

"Accounting for the culture, values and preferences of the individual is at the heart of patient-centered care, said OKane. "These plans are to be commended for taking the lead in designing methods to ensure that all their members are getting the highest-quality care possible.

The health plans will receive their awards at a ceremony on Sept. 13, in Redondo Beach, Calif. at a ceremony sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company. Details of the award-winning programs will be shared at two national conferences on Multicultural Healthcare: Sept. 14, 2006, in Redondo Beach, Calif., and Oct. 18, 2006, in Washington D.C. (Conference information is available at ncqa.org/education/index.htm)

NCQA, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality, accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations, recognizes physicians and physician groups in key clinical areas and manages the evolution of HEDIS, the tool the nations health plans use to measure and report on their performance. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.

The California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation, was established in 1996 to expand access to affordable, quality health care for underserved individuals and communities, and to promote fundamental improvements in the health status of all Californians. For more information, visit www.calendow.org.

To view article, go to http://www.calendow.org/news/press_releases/2006/09/091306.stm.