UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio announced it was awarded Health Equity Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health care quality.

“Every individual in Ohio deserves access to equitable, high-quality health care,” said Scott Waulters, CEO of UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Ohio. “This accreditation from NCQA is an honor and a recognition of our commitment to reducing disparities and our dedication to helping people live healthier lives.”

NCQA awards accreditation to organizations that meet or exceed its rigorous requirements. Health Equity Accreditation focuses on the foundation of health equity work, including:

• Building an internal culture that supports the organization’s external health equity work.
• Collecting data that helps 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.

As part of its focus on health equity, NCQA assesses and reports on the quality of managed care plans, managed behavioral health care organizations, preferred provider organizations, new health plans, physician organizations, credentials verification organizations, disease management programs and other health-related programs.

Health Equity Accreditation is a nationally recognized endorsement for purchasers, regulators and consumers to use to distinguish organizations that meet rigorous standards in serving a diverse population.

“Earning Health Equity Accreditation shows that an organization is making a breakthrough in providing excellent health care to diverse populations. I congratulate any organization that achieves this level of distinction,” said NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care is essential to improving the quality of care overall.”

UnitedHealthcare serves more than 2.1 million people in Ohio enrolled in employer-sponsored, individual, Medicare and Medicaid plans, with a network of 211 hospitals, and more than 86,000 physicians and care providers statewide.

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 1.5 million physicians and care professionals, and more than 7,000 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 @UHC on Twitter.

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