Press Releases: National
November 16, 2007
Kaiser Permanente Recognized by NCQA for Innovative Program to Reduce Health Care Disparities
OAKLAND, Calif. – Kaiser Permanente has received the "Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award" from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for its efforts to provide health plan members across the country with culturally and linguistically appropriate health care services.
"Kaiser Permanente has created an innovative program that health plans nationwide should use as a model for bridging language and cultural gaps that so easily get in the way of quality health care," said Margaret E. O'Kane, president of NCQA.
Kaiser Permanente serves more than 8.7 million members who represent more than 120 different languages. The health plan provides translated materials that are critical to providing quality and equitable health care for patients who have limited English proficiency.
With its National Standardized Quality Translation Initiative, Kaiser Permanente is addressing the dearth of translated materials in health care, as well as the need to verify the quality of translations. The health plan's national initiative strives to improve both access to and quality of translated materials; underscoring Kaiser Permanente's commitment to the provision of quality and equitable health care as well as culturally and linguistically competent care.
The health plan's accomplishments in this area include the creation of the Kaiser Permanente Health Care Glossary with more than 3,000 terms translated in Spanish, including approximately 1,000 terms commonly used in health care system. The Health Care Glossary is currently available in seven languages; English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean, Armenian, and Russian. The Health Care Glossary led to the refinement of Kaiser Permanente's previously existing Trilingual Reference Manuals, which now have been disseminated to all Kaiser Permanente Regions as well as partnering institutions in the community. More than 10,000 reference manuals have been shipped since 2006.
Moving forward, Kaiser Permanente is incorporating the standardized quality translation process into a web-based environment, thereby facilitating shared access, creating opportunities for collaboration, reducing translation redundancy, and improving translation quality through systematic application of the evidence-based quality assurance and quality improvement process.
"It is a major priority for Kaiser Permanente to be culturally competent in every aspect of our care delivery and service," said George C. Halvorson, Chairman & CEO of Kaiser Permanente. "We are pleased to receive this award and appreciate NCQA's continued efforts to help consumers in every community make more informed care decisions."
According to the landmark 2002 Institute of Medicine study, "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care," minorities in the United States tend to get lower quality health care than whites, even when such factors as medical conditions, insurance and economic status are equivalent.
Kaiser Permanente received its award in Washington, D.C., on November 13 during the second annual "Breakthroughs in Reducing Health Care Disparities" conference. The award was initiated after the NCQA – with major funding from The California Endowment and support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services – started to investigate the feasibility for health plans to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate care and to monitor health care disparities using clinical quality data.
For information about the other health plans recognized in 2007 by NCQA, as well the conferences on multicultural health care, visit www.ncqa.org
About Kaiser Permanente
Kaiser Permanente is committed to helping shape the future of health care. We are recognized as one of America’s leading health care providers and not-for-profit health plans. Founded in 1945, our mission is to provide high-quality, affordable health care services and to improve the health of our members and the communities we serve. We currently serve 8.6 million members in nine states and the District of Columbia. Care for members and patients is focused on their total health and guided by their personal physicians, specialists and team of caregivers. Our expert and caring medical teams are empowered and supported by industry-leading technology advances and tools for health promotion, disease prevention, state-of-the art care delivery and world-class chronic disease management. Kaiser Permanente is dedicated to care innovations, clinical research, health education and the support of community health. For more information, go to: www.kp.org/newscenter.
