Virginia Premier Health Plan Recognized by National Committee for Quality Assurance for Innovative Efforts to Reduce Health Care Disparities for African American Women

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

The Virginia Premier Health Plan, Inc., has been awarded the “Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award” by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for efforts to reach across cultural and language barriers and provide health plan members in the Commonwealth of Virginia with services that meet their unique needs. 

“Virginia Premier’s innovative efforts to improve the lives of African American women and their infants are a model for health plans across the country,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, president of NCQA.  “As a nation of diverse cultures, languages and lifestyles, it’s essential for health plans to recognize the health risks and vulnerabilities of special populations and design programs that reach out and improve the quality of those members’ lives.”

To reduce disparities and barriers to breastfeeding, Virginia Premier collaborated with the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services and other community agencies such as the Women, Infants and Children peer support group and regional health departments to develop a comprehensive program for the African American community. 

The initiative consisted of numerous interventions designed to encourage, support and educate women about breastfeeding – which, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, significantly reduces the risk of a large number of acute and chronic diseases and provides infants with significant advantages in general health, growth and development.

“As a result of this multifaceted initiative, breastfeeding rates among African American members in the pilot program area increased from 22 percent to 51 percent,” said Linda Hines, Virginia Premier vice president for medical management. “The initiative has been so successful that we have incorporated it as a component of our Healthy Heartbeats maternal-child wellness program.”

According to a 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.

Virginia Premier will be recognized at a ceremony in San Francisco on Sept. 18.  The award, sponsored by The California Endowment with support from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and The Office of Minority Health, is part of NCQA’s efforts to improve the quality of health care in the United States through development of a truly multicultural health care system.

For information about other innovative multicultural health plan programs recognized in recent years by NCQA, as well as upcoming conferences on multicultural health care, visit www.ncqa.org.

Virginia Premier Health Plan, Inc., is a Health Maintenance Organization which began operations as a full-service Medicaid HMO in August 1995. VPHP is contracted with the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services to provide health care services to the recipients of the Family Access to Medical Security Insurance (FAMIS) and Medicaid's Temporary Aid for Needy Families and Aged, Blind, and Disabled residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia. VPHP was formed for the sole purpose of effectively coordinating health care for low-income persons. Owned by the Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, VPHP currently services approximately 130,000 members.

NCQA, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality, accredits and certifies 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. For more information, visit 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 www.calendow.org.