WellSpan Health is one in every of simply three well being methods throughout the nation, and the primary in Pennsylvania, to obtain the Health Equity Accreditation from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). NCQA awards the accreditation to organizations which might be leaders in addressing well being fairness, analyzing scientific efficiency and client expertise by means of a complete framework.

“WellSpan Health is deeply committed to fostering an inclusive culture where fairness and equity is a top priority. We are extremely proud to have achieved the prestigious NCQA Health Equity Accreditation, which symbolizes our unwavering dedication to this crucial endeavor,” stated Kim Brister, vp and chief range, fairness and inclusion officer at WellSpan Health. “The prevalence of racial and ethnic disparities continues to be a barrier to receiving quality health care for too many Americans. I am proud of the work being done here at WellSpan to address those issues, and we are fully committed to continuing that work moving forward.”

NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation evaluates how nicely a company complies with requirements within the following areas:

• organizational readiness
• race/ethnicity
• language
• gender determine and sexual orientation
• entry and availability of language providers
• practitioner community cultural responsiveness
• culturally and linguistically acceptable providers applications
• lowering well being care disparities

WellSpan’s efforts to improve breast cancer screening rates for Black and Hispanic women, address maternal morbidity, and organize data by race, ethnicity and language to help identify disparities all contributed to the group assembly the entire requirements evaluated in an effort to obtain this accreditation.

“We have been working toward this accreditation since early last year, and we are thrilled to have met NCQA’s rigorous requirements for health equity,” stated Dr. Mike Seim, senior vp and chief high quality officer, WellSpan Health. “This nationally recognized accreditation is validation that we are on the right track, and the entire health system will continue to work hard toward addressing and eliminating barriers to health care for the people of South Central Pennsylvania.”

“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,” stated NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane. “Eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care is essential to improving the quality of care overall.”

The accreditation is awarded as a three-year time period, efficient by means of 2026.

Earlier this yr, WellSpan was recognized for its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, training programs and leadership by national regional publications.

For extra details about NCQA and the Health Equity Accreditation, go to NCQA.org.

To study extra about WellSpan’s dedication to offering the best high quality look after all, go to WellSpan.org/Quality