SIXTEEN ORGANIZATIONS COMMIT TO REVIEW UNDER NCQA’S NEW WELLNESS & HEALTH PROMOTION ACCREDITATION
December 2, 2008
WASHINGTON – The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) today announced 16 organizations have committed to be among the first organizations to be surveyed under NCQA’s new Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation [see attached list]. This evaluation program will help employers and others compare wellness programs using standardized results and select a wellness program with demonstrated value and quality. More than three-fourths of the nation’s leading employers offer wellness programs to their employees as a means to improve health and lower costs.
“Decades of work has shown that it is far easier to keep people healthy than it is restore them to health. While wellness programs across the country can help people make better choices, there is a lot of uncertainty about what makes a great program,” said Margaret E. O’Kane, NCQA President. “NCQA’s Wellness and Health Promotion Accreditation requires organizations to demonstrate their compliance with well-defined standards and quality measures. The NCQA seal will provide employers and consumers with the information they need to choose the best program in their markets.”
“Improving the health of all Americans goes beyond caring for the sick and injured. It also means taking steps to prevent illness and steps that promote good health,” said Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “Promoting wellness through employer and health plan-based programs can help people develop healthier habits and live longer, more productive lives.”
Under the new program, organizations that provide wellness programs can earn the status of “NCQA Accredited” by demonstrating how they focus programs to fit employer or plan sponsor needs, how they appropriately safeguard private information, and how they target wellness and health promotion actions to individuals based on identified needs.
Organizations that go further and provide data about how well their programs change behavior and improve health can earn the status of “NCQA Accredited with Performance Reporting.” The “Accredited with Performance Reporting” status adds an additional standard that assesses ten performance measures reported by the organization. The performance measures will allow for comparison between programs. The measures include:
• Staying Healthy: The percentage of adults who do not have a core risk such as obesity, smoking or physical inactivity.
• Participation: The percentage of adults who have a core risk factor and had at least one contact.
• Risk Reduction: The percentage of adults with a core risk factor that reduced their risk.
“Discerning employers understand that the health of their workforce is an asset that holds as much value as their products. That is where wellness programs come in: to help manage the health of a workforce and safeguard against progression to more costly and complicated conditions,” said Larry Boress, President and CEO of the Midwest Business Group on Health. “With so many programs available, it is important that employers select programs that have been independently evaluated. Efforts like NCQA’s new Accreditation program gives employers the peace of mind that a program meets the highest standards.”
Health plans, disease management organizations, managed behavioral healthcare organizations, and wellness and health promotions vendors and organizations are eligible for Accreditation. The program will officially launch December 16 and surveys will commence on April 1, 2009.
“By being one of the first to step forward for NCQA’s Wellness & Health Promotion Accreditation, Alere demonstrates our commitment to helping people improve their health and well-being,” said Tim Moore, M.D., Executive Vice President, Clinical Affairs, Alere. “We are eager to objectively demonstrate the value and quality of our program; Alere’s program has helped improve and maintain the health of Americans for a number of years.”
Organizations interested in coming forward for WHP Accreditation are encouraged to contact NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585. More information about the program, including program standards, is available at http://www.ncqa.org.
NCQA is a private, non-profit organization dedicated to improving health care quality. NCQA evaluates, accredits and certifies a wide range of 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, protecting the lives of more than 100 million Americans. NCQA is committed to providing health care quality information through the Web, media and data licensing agreements in order to help consumers, employers and others make more informed health care choices.
EARLY ADOPTERS OF THE NCQA WELLNESS & HEALTH PROMOTION ACCREDITATION PROGRAM
• Alere
• Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
• CareFirst BlueCross Blue Shield - Maryland
• CIGNA
• EngagementHealth, LLC
• Gordian Health Solutions
• HealthFitness
• HealthPartners/JourneyWell
• HealthyRoads, Inc.
• HealthStat, Inc.
• Healthways
• Interactive Health Solutions
• Medical Mutual of Ohio
• Provant Health Solutions
• StayWell Health Management
• The Prevention Plan™, a/b/a of U.S. Care Management