NCQA Accreditation

On July 14, 2006, Sanford Health Plan and Sanford Health Plan of Minnesota commercial HMO products received the National Committee for Quality Assurance’s (NCQA - a private, nonprofit organization that evaluates and reports on health care quality) Excellent Accreditation status. Our accreditation status – the highest level achievable – was awarded after rigorous evaluation by NCQA of all aspects of our plan, including preventive health services, member satisfaction, physician credentialing and quality improvement.

NCQA Accreditation is a voluntary review process. It is a nationally recognized evaluation that purchasers, regulators, and consumers can use to assess managed care plans and evaluate how a health plan ensures that its members are receiving high-quality care. NCQA’s Accreditation standards are purposely set high to encourage health plans to continuously enhance their quality. Accreditation standards are publicly reported in five categories:

Access and Service: Do health plan members have access to the care and service they need?

Qualified Providers: Does the health plan assess each doctor’s qualifications and what health plan members say about its providers?

Staying Healthy: Does the health plan help members maintain good health and detect illness early?

Getting Better: How well does the health plan care for members when they become sick?

Living with Illness: How well does the health plan care for members when they have chronic conditions?


Health plans earning NCQA Accreditation tend to substantially outperform non-accredited health plans across a wide range of measures of clinical quality and member satisfaction. NCQA Accreditation recognizes the commitment of our organization to provide quality health care and demonstrates that we have incorporated quality improvements into the fabric of our daily lives.