PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Aug. 9, 2024) – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) has been awarded Health Equity Accreditation by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) for its commercial health plans, recognizing the insurer’s efforts to reduce health disparities and promote health equity for its members and the communities it serves.

BCBSRI is the only health insurer to achieve NCQA Health Equity Accreditation for commercial health plans serving Rhode Islanders.

NCQA’s Health Equity Accreditation recognizes organizations that lead the market in providing culturally and linguistically sensitive services and work to reduce health care disparities. In awarding accreditation, NCQA evaluates how well an organization complies with standards in the following areas: organizational readiness; race/ethnicity, language, gender identify and sexual orientation; access and availability of language services; practitioner network cultural responsiveness; culturally and linguistically appropriate services programs; and reducing health care disparities. 

"We are honored to receive this accreditation from NCQA, which validates our comprehensive and sustained efforts to identify and address health disparities in Rhode Island," said Martha L. Wofford, president and CEO of BCBSRI. "We believe that everyone deserves the opportunity to achieve their best health, regardless of the color of their skin, the language they speak or where they live. This accreditation reflects Blue Cross’ long-standing commitment to advance health equity and work in partnership with the community to improve the health and well-being of our members and our communities."

The following are highlights of BCBSRI's health equity efforts:

• Health Equity Report – published annually from member claims data and stratified by race and ethnicity, the report, which is publicly available on BCBSRI.com, helps to illuminate racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare quality. This data is used as a roadmap for interventions to reduce those inequities in areas including: 
  • Maternal health – BCBSRI’s comprehensive maternal care program is designed to help reduce the risk of premature birth, low birthweight, and pregnancy-related complications, particularly among birthing people of color, and provide support for those experiencing postpartum depression. Other areas of focus include support for doula network expansion and diverse workforce training and implicit bias training for healthcare providers.
  • Colorectal cancer – To reach a goal of cutting in half the number of non-white members who are overdue for colorectal cancer screening, BCBSRI has partnered with the Lifespan Community Health Institute to reach out to these members and navigate them toward appropriate screening. 
• Voluntary self-identification – In 2023, BCBSRI began encouraging members to update their profiles to include information about their race, ethnicity, language, sexual orientation, and gender identification. The goal is to enhance collection of member data to better address health disparities. 
• Safe Zones – The LGBTQ+ Safe Zone Program certifies healthcare facilities, provider offices, and community-based organizations identifying themselves as supporters of the LGBTQ+ community. Certification requirements reflect policies, procedures, and physical space related to equity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ patients.
• RI Life Index – BCBSRI partners with the Brown University School of Public Health on the RI Life Index, which has surveyed Rhode Islanders annually for the past six years on their perceptions of social determinants of health.

NCQA President Margaret E. O’Kane said, “The prevalence of racial and ethnic disparities has been a barrier to improving the quality of health care of many Americans for too long. Organizations achieving Health Equity Accreditation are leaders in closing this gap."