Press Releases: Georgia
September 25, 2006
Kaiser Permanente Georgia Earns NCQA Accreditation and Special Recognition
ATLANTA — Kaiser Permanente of Georgia earned "excellent" accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its Medicare product and maintained excellent status for its commercial HMO. The "excellent" designation is the NCQA’s highest level of accreditation granted only to plans that meet or exceed demonstrated levels of clinical quality, service and member satisfaction.
In addition to its excellent accreditation, Kaiser Permanente of Georgia and two other Kaiser regions (Northern California and Mid-Atlantic States) recently received a special NCQA award for implementing programs that address health disparities targeting African American, Latino and Asian populations.
The NCQA’s "Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award" was presented in collaboration with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the California Endowment, a private, statewide health foundation. Of the more than 61 applications submitted, Kaiser Permanente was one of 10 national winners. Other winners include: Aetna, Blue Cross of California Partnership Plan, Inc., CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield (Maryland), Chinese Community Health Plan (San Francisco), Health Net of California, HealthPartners (Minnesota), Keystone Mercy Health Plan (Philadelphia), L.A. Care Health Plan, and Molina Healthcare of Michigan.
The new award is the result of a collaboration with the NCQA and The California Endowment, with support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to investigate the feasibility for health plans to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care and to monitor health care disparities using clinical quality data.
While most of the award-winning programs dealt with specific health disparities such as childhood immunizations, care for asthma, diabetes, pediatric obesity, cervical cancer and cardiovascular disease, Kaiser Permanente was recognized for initiatives that address language barriers for members.
Kaiser Permanente of Georgia received the award for the Health Care Interpreter Certificate Program (HCI), a training program offered at Georgia Perimeter College in partnership with the health plan. The nine-month HCI program teaches bilingual and bicultural students effective language interpretation skills in a healthcare setting. Some classes are held at Kaiser Permanente medical centers.
About NCQA
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(C), the tool the nation's health plans use to measure and report on their performance. For more information, visit www.ncqa.org.
About The California Endowment
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.
Kaiser Permanente is the state of Georgia's largest nonprofit health plan, serving the health care needs of Atlanta metro area residents for 22 years. Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of Georgia, Inc. currently provides comprehensive health care services to approximately 275,000 members through 15 medical facilities in a 28-county service, and a network of affiliated hospitals and physicians. The Health Plan provided more than $5 million in community benefit programs and services.