For the 12th year in a row, Kaiser Permanente has earned the Pharmacy Quality Alliance’s Laura Cranston Excellence in Quality Award for high achievement in medication safety and appropriate use.

Kaiser Permanente Medicare Advantage health plans serving members in California, Oregon, Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. were recognized by PQA at its annual meeting held in May 2022. The awards are named in honor of the organization’s founding CEO.

“Medication safety, adherence, and effectiveness are essential for providing high-quality care,” said Mary Beth Lang, senior vice president and chief pharmacy officer for Kaiser Permanente. “We are pleased that once again our integrated care delivery model has resulted in quality scores that merit recognition from PQA. This honor illustrates the value we provide our Medicare members in the critical area of medication management.”

Each year, PQA recognizes health plans for excellence in quality of medication use, based on published Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Part D Star Ratings. The award goes to Medicare Advantage drug plans with at least a 4.5-star Part D summary rating and a 5-star rating on all 5 PQA medication measures used within the CMS Star Ratings Program.

PQA has issued annual quality awards since 2011, recognizing the nation’s highest achieving prescription drug plans for performance on PQA quality measures of medication safety and appropriate use. According to PQA, only 2.9% of the 850 Medicare Part D plans qualified for an award in 2022 from the organization, which also honors plans that demonstrate significant improvement in PQA measures of medication safety and appropriate use.