AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana earns NCQA distinction

AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana strives to serve all populations.
AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana strives to serve all populations. | Contributed image

Demonstrating excellence in overcoming cultural barriers to quality care, Medicaid managed health care plan AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana of Baton Rouge recently merited an honor from the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

NCQA conferred its Multicultural Health Care Distinction for the organization — as one of seven AmeriHealth Caritas Medicaid managed plans to net the status nationwide — based on its ability to satisfy its clientele’s varied requirements.

The nonprofit, Washington, D.C.-based NCQA presents the tribute only to those organizations satisfying or surpassing its criteria for multicultural health care: assessing a group’s compliance with accumulating relevant data, providing linguistic support, tailoring services to be culturally appropriate, and generally striving to diminish discrepancies.

AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana strives to serve all populations by delivering cultural competency training for providers; making specific outreach efforts for Spanish speakers; providing an interpreter at member advisory council meetings, and prioritizing communication with members in their chosen language.

“It is an honor to be recognized for our success in removing cultural and linguistic barriers to care,” AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana market president Kyle Viator said. “As a Medicaid plan, we serve people of many different race, ethnic and language backgrounds, and it is important that we be able to meet all of their diverse health care needs. I am proud of the work our associates do every day to help ensure our members receive the care and services that are most appropriate for them.”