UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island Awarded NCQA Health Equity Accreditation

--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island has been awarded Health Equity Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. This accreditation is granted to organizations that lead the market in providing culturally and linguistically sensitive services, and work to reduce health care disparities.

“As a health plan, we have a commitment to ensure every individual in Rhode Island has access to high quality, equitable health care,” said Michael Florczyk, CEO, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island. “We are honored to be recognized with Health Equity Accreditation as a result of our team’s dedication to helping people live healthier lives and helping to make the health system work better for everyone.”

Health Equity Accreditation is a nationally recognized accreditation that purchasers, regulators and consumers can use to distinguish organizations that meet rigorous standards in serving a diverse population by:

• Building an internal culture that supports the organization’s external health equity work.
• Collecting data that help the organization create and offer language services and provider networks mindful of individuals’ cultural and linguistic needs.
• Identifying opportunities to reduce health inequities and improve care.

“Cultural competency is crucial to providing high quality health care,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Organizations achieving Health Equity Accreditation are leaders in closing the ethnic and racial disparities gap, and NCQA commends them for their dedication.”

In alignment with these efforts, UnitedHealthcare recently donated $500,000 to five nonprofits in Rhode Island to expand access to care and address social determinants of health across the state.

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 257,000 people in Rhode Island enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, Medicare and Medicaid plans, with a network of 13 hospitals, and more than 9,500 physicians and care providers statewide.

To learn more about UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Rhode Island’s commitment to addressing health equity, visit uhccs.com/RI. For more information about NCQA, visit www.ncqa.org.

About NCQA

NCQA is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA accredits and certifies a wide range of health care organizations. It also recognizes clinicians and practices in key areas of performance. NCQA’s Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) is the most widely used performance measurement tool in health care. NCQA’s website (ncqa.org) contains information to help consumers, employers and others make more-informed health care choices. NCQA can be found online at ncqa.org, on Twitter @ncqa, on Facebook at facebook.com/NCQA.org/ and on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/company/ncqa.

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people live healthier lives and making the health system work better for everyone by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. In the United States, UnitedHealthcare offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 1.6 million physicians and care professionals, and 8,000 hospitals and other care facilities nationwide. The company also provides health benefits and delivers care to people through owned and operated health care facilities in South America. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified health care company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow UnitedHealthcare on LinkedIn.