WellPoint: Corporate Responsibility

Multicultural Markets

Health Literacy

Health Care Disparities & Cultural Competency

Racial and ethnic minorities receive lower quality health care than non-minorities – even when insurance status, income, age, and severity of conditions are comparable – according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences.

WellPoint is keenly attuned to the issue of cultural disparities in health care. We’re committed to improving the well-being of all our members by offering education and support to empower them to take charge of their health. For these efforts we have received numerous honors, among them the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s Recognizing Innovation in Multicultural Health Care Award.

Diabetes Health Care

Although 24 million Americans age 20 or older have diabetes, it doesn’t affect them equally. African Americans and Hispanics are hit harder by the complexities of diabetes than any other racial or ethnic groups in the country today. They have a higher incidence of limited mobility, peripheral artery disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, blindness, lower-extremity infection and amputation, and premature death.

Health Equities Pilot

Through extensive research and surveys of Hispanic and African- American adults with diabetes, WellPoint identified the opportunity to drive positive change through outreach and engagement strategies and culturally relevant materials. Messages in both English and Spanish were incorporated into a variety of communications channels, from DVDs to fast-food and cooking guides to a website and booklets on depression. All materials were designed to promote health awareness and motivate members to better manage their diabetes. SOMOS and PRIDE, our resource groups for Hispanic and African American associates, reviewed the materials and provided suggestions to ensure their cultural relevance.

WellPoint recently received the Bronze Web Health Award from the Health Information Resource Center, recognizing our outstanding efforts in the development and design of a bilingual portal for Hispanic participants with diabetes. WellPoint won additional National Health Information Awards for the suites of culturally appropriate materials developed for this pilot, chosen from more than 1,000 of the nation’s best consumer health information programs and materials recognized by the American Diabetes Association.

To date, WellPoint has disseminated our findings from this pilot at several professional conferences, including those sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the American Public Health Association, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Taking Action Together

WellPoint enjoys an ongoing collaboration with Merck to support the American Diabetes Association. Together we address health care disparities in populations with diabetes by increasing community engagement and providing innovative diabetes solutions. Specially trained diabetes educators offer sessions in English and Spanish about healthy eating, blood glucose monitoring, myths versus facts, the natural course of diabetes and possible complications.

Online Provider Resource Center

This innovative website provides health care professionals with a comprehensive set of tools for understanding and addressing racial and cultural health disparities in each of the markets served by WellPoint.

The site offers the latest research on the issue, resources for communicating with diverse populations, links to training courses, and information on federal guidelines for providing culturally and linguistically appropriate services. Resources include health education and disease-specific materials in both Spanish and Chinese, as well as materials designed for low-literacy readers. Tips on providing translations during an office visit and links to assessment tools that will help physicians better understand the populations they serve are also available.

Cultural Competency Provider Toolkit

Health care professionals are constantly presented with new challenges in their attempts to deliver health care to a diverse patient population.

In 2009, WellPoint released Caring for Diverse Populations, a toolkit developed by a team of health care professionals to address the specific issues that arise in a culturally diverse practice because of changing service requirements, patients’ expectations and legal mandates.

Language Assistance Programs

Pursuant to California’s Senate Bill 853, which concerns language assistance provided by health care plans and insurers, we have trained more than 4,400 of our associates serving California members. A free language assistance program is now helping our members with limited English proficiency in California better understand their health care benefits. WellPoint offers services in five languages – Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Tagalog. Interpreters for other languages are provided through a third-party vendor.

Reaching Spanish-Speaking Members

NuestroBien

To promote health and wellness in California’s Latino community, our California plan created a bilingual website called NuestroBien (“Our Well-Being”) at www.nuestrobien.com. The site focuses on prevention, nutrition, and early detection of health issues, and addresses the leading health care problems facing Latinos. A Kids’ Center contains games and animated clips on how the human body works. More than 600 health-related articles for parents, teens, and younger children, as well as links to our plan’s website, are available.

Spanish-Language Video