Understanding Who Accredits Health Equity Programs in Healthcare

Applying for a health equity accreditation or certification is advantageous for health care facilities. This credential improves your ability to serve patients from all backgrounds, maximizes your staff members’ strengths and demonstrates your commitment to minimizing barriers to accessible quality care. It also helps nonprofits attract donors who want to support health care organizations championing inclusion, equity and diversity. 

Discover the most trusted health equity accreditors and certifiers in the United States, and learn about the key factors you should consider when comparing your options.

Leading Providers of Health Equity Accreditation and Certification Programs

Here’s a roundup of the most trusted health equity accreditation and certification programs:

Who Accredits Health Equity Programs?

These four trusted organizations accredit or certify facilities for health equity.

1. URAC

URAC has been around since 1990 and has been accrediting organizations for health equity since 2023. This accrediting body builds its health equity program from scratch for your organization, guiding you in identifying the unique disparities in the areas you serve. This approach enables you to accurately define the problems your communities are facing and devise actionable strategies to plug the gap in health care delivery.

This health equity accreditation program is collaborative. URAC will work with your team for six months or less to help you create a flexible framework for continuous improvement. By the end of the program, you will know how to maintain regulatory compliance, deliver equitable care and support to all patients, manage strategic relationships, and more.

URAC uses multidisciplinary expert advisory groups across health care to develop evidence-based standards. Some of the organizations it has accredited include WebMD, Amwell, Children’s National, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, Magellan Health and HCA Healthcare.

2. National Committee for Quality Assurance

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) offers two programs — Health Equity Accreditation and Health Equity Accreditation Plus. The first lays the foundation for equitable health care services by creating a supportive internal culture, collecting data to develop language services and provider networks sensitive to cultural and linguistic needs, and identifying opportunities to improve care delivery and reduce health inequities.

The second one elevates your organization’s ability to provide health equity to your communities. It involves gathering data on social risk factors and needs and offering impactful social services to bridge the gap between medical and nonmedical determinants of health, forging mutually beneficial relationships with community-based organizations, and engaging the public more meaningfully.

These programs will serve as your guidebook to make health equity front and center in your organization. Signing up for the Health Equity Subscription plan after earning at least one of the two will help your organization stay current with the latest in health care and be ahead of the curve. Elevance Health, Independence Blue Cross, Maven Clinic, EmblemHealth, AmeriHealth Caritas New Hampshire, and Fallon Health are some of the first to become NCQA-accredited.

3. Joint Commission Resources

Joint Commission Resources (JRC) has been a global driver of care quality improvement and patient safety for more than 70 years. It publishes a new edition of its Health Care Equity certification manual annually, reflecting the latest standards your organization should abide by to stay certified or earn its prestigious Gold Seal of Approval^® for health care equity.

This document describes JRC’s certification process and requirements. It includes standards, elements of performance, the enterprise’s relevant policies and procedures, and changes from the previous edition.

It is the perfect resource for your staff tasked with health care equity preparedness and compliance. Team members responsible for your organization’s diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives will also find this manual enlightening and insightful.

4. American College of Surgeons

The American College of Surgeons (ACS) provides the Health Equity Toolkit to programs accredited by its Commission on Cancer — a network of professional organizations dedicated to improving the lives of people with cancer by setting standards of care. This resource epitomizes the association’s mission to keep raising the bar for cancer programs and improving health outcomes for all cancer patients.

It will advance your organization’s understanding of the adverse effects of financial toxicity — which is prevalent among cancer patients and their families due to high treatment costs — and ways to promote health equity. It lists relevant standards and points to other resources your team may find useful.

The toolkit is the product of ACS’s Health Equity Task Force. This multidisciplinary team comprises licensed clinical social workers, medical doctors, Juris Doctors, ACS fellows and other subject-matter experts.

Comparing Health Equity Accreditation Programs

Consider the following factors when comparing health equity accreditation programs.

Work With a Respected Vendor to Accredit Your Organization for Health Equity

URAC, NCQA, JRC and ACS accredit or certify many of the leading health care organizations in the U.S. and beyond for health equity. Evaluate each one’s programs more deeply to find a perfect fit.