PROGRAMS TO REDUCE HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES AMONG RACIAL, ETHNIC MINORITIES RECOGNIZED BY NCQA 

WASHINGTON – The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), with support from The California Endowment, has recognized nine managed care plans for innovative programs aimed at reducing health care disparities. From improving birth outcomes for African American teenagers to improving diabetes self-management among Chinese Americans, these programs improve health services for linguistically, racially and ethnically diverse populations.  

According to numerous studies, ethnic and racial minorities often receive lower quality health care than Caucasian patients, even when such factors as medical conditions, insurance and economic status are equivalent. Disparities range across the full spectrum of health services -- from who gets prenatal care to the quality of care received at the end of life. 

“The exemplary efforts of these plans to promote cultural competence and eliminate health disparities go a long way toward a higher quality and more just health care system,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, president of NCQA. “Creating a patient-centered, multicultural health care system must be among the highest priorities of providers and health plans alike.” 

The significance of disparities is underscored by data from the Census Bureau that shows approximately 12.4 percent of the U.S. population was born in another country and 52 million people speak a language other than English at home.

“Health care providers must be cognizant of their responsibility to provide care that is responsive to the needs of the diverse communities they serve,” said Robert K. Ross, M.D., president and CEO of The California Endowment. “These awardees demonstrate a growing recognition among providers of the need to move beyond a one-size-fits-all approach to health care delivery.” 

Winners of the 2007 “Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award” are:

• Aetna Life Insurance Company and its HMO Affiliates -- “The Breast Health Ethnic Disparity Initiative ” successfully increased mammography rates within the African American and Hispanic/Latina membership by providing culturally and linguistically appropriate information, tools and support, and encouraging members to get recommended mammograms.
  Contact: Karin Rush-Monroe, 215-775-2132
  
• Chinese Community Health Plan (San Francisco) -- “Diabetes Self-Management: A Cultural Approach” improved care for diabetes, a leading cause of illness and death in the Chinese community, through a multidisciplinary, low-tech/high-socialization program.
  Contact: Yolanda Lee, 415.955.8800 x3253
  
• CIGNA -- The “Facilitating Cultural & Language Match in Behavioral Care” program increased satisfaction and access for minority patients seeking behavioral health care by adding ethnic health practitioners, collecting additional diversity information, and starting an open access model for routine outpatient behavioral care.
  Contact: Mark Slitt, 860-226-2092
  
•  Excellus Health Plan (New York) -- A program to decrease NICU admission rates for African American teens succeeded by offering teens face-to-face contact with outreach workers with a common cultural background and experience, and through use of social risk and substance use assessments, home visits, and personalized care plans.
  Contact: Jim Redmond, (585) 238-4579
  
• Harvard Pilgrim Health Care (Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire) -- A colorectal cancer screening initiative improved screening rates, a leading cause of cancer morbidity among racial/ethnic groups, through an interactive speech recognition telephone technology that delivers preventative screening reminders and educates members about colorectal screening.
  Contact: Sharon Torgerson, 617-509-7458
  
• Health Alliance Plan (Michigan) -- Disparities in breast cancer screening rates between African American and white females in the Henry Ford Medical Group were eliminated through an outreach effort that included brochures, calls, a mammogram walk-in clinic, other incentives, and provider awareness raising. The initiative is an important example of health plans partnering with employers to create solutions. Contact: Tiffany Baker, 248-443-1072
  
• Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. -- The “National Standardized Quality Translation Initiative” addressed the dearth of translated materials as well as the need to verify translation quality. A standardized quality translation process was developed that serves as a model for translations in any language, for any type of material. The Initiative’s national coalition standardized a health care glossary which is now available in six languages.
  Contact: Gayle Tang, (510) 271-6828
  
• UnitedHealthcare -- The Asian In-Language Provider Directory addressed the fact that, compared to other ethnic minority groups, Asians report the lowest percentage of patients who feel that their physician understands their background and values. An on-line and hard copy directory was created that lists the ethnic backgrounds and language abilities of providers and office staff. Also, nine hundred Asian providers were added to the network in the Los Angeles HMO market alone.
  Contact: Dan Miller, 714-226-3726
  
• UPMC Health Plan (Pennsylvania) -- An “Approach to Improving Maternal Outcomes in an Urban Setting” improved poor birth outcomes for African American members in a low income area of Pittsburgh through use of a new care-management model that incorporates in-house maternity program staff, community agency representatives, community providers and social workers, trained community resident ambassadors, outreach, education and coordination of care, and Doulas.
  Contact: Michael Taylor, 412-454-7534 

More information is available on each of these programs at www.ncqa.org/clas.aspx. 

Twenty-eight health plans submitted 35 applications for the Award, part of NCQA’s efforts to encourage plans to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate services and to monitor health care disparities using clinical quality data. NCQA’s program receives funding from The California Endowment and is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and The Office of Minority Health. 

Health plans receive their awards at a luncheon on November 13, in Washington, D.C., sponsored by Eli Lilly and Company, with additional support from Verizon, Abbott Laboratories and Healthways. The event is in conjunction with the second annual conference, “Breakthroughs in Reducing Health Care Disparities.”  

NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations and recognizes physicians in key clinical areas. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care.  NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices. For more information, visit http://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 http://www.calendow.org/.

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