Inland Empire Health Plan earns national procurement award

Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) has earned its first Achievement of Excellence in Procurement award from the National Procurement Institute, Inc. (NPI).

The local health plan received the award for its efforts to improve vendor transparency and drive forward a fair and open bidding process for external vendor services.

“For me, this award has been five years in the making,” said Cita Hendricks, IEHP’s director of supply chain management. “It was a goal of ours set in motion with the support of our entire leadership team, and we worked to build out that mission to a place where we have matured in our processes. This award shows we are finally there.”

NPI established the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement program in 1995 to recognize county, city, school district, state, and other entities for their organizational excellence in public procurement. To achieve the award, nominated organizations must meet certain measurement criteria, including innovation, professionalism and productivity.

IEHP is one of nearly 200 organizations recognized by NPI this year, joining the County of San Bernardino, the cities of Redlands, Riverside and Moreno Valley, and California State University, San Bernardino on the list of 2024 award winners.

NPI will formally recognize its Class of 2024 at the organization’s 56^th annual conference Oct. 13-16 at the Grand Hyatt in Denver, Colorado.

“This award says so much about this team,” said Hendricks, “We want to continue being trailblazers and best in class in procurement.”

With a mission to heal and inspire the human spirit, Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP) is one of the top 10 largest Medicaid health plans, the largest not-for-profit Medicare-Medicaid public health plan in the country, and for the third year in a row, certified as A Great Place To Work®. Founded in 1996, IEHP supports more than 1.5 million Riverside and San Bernardino County residents enrolled in Medicaid or IEHP DualChoice (those with both Medi-Cal and Medicare). As of 2024, IEHP also offers Covered California plans, further ensuring health care access for even more IE residents. Today, IEHP has a robust network of quality doctors throughout our two counties and nearly 4,000 team members who are fully committed to the vision: We will not rest until our communities enjoy optimal care and vibrant health. To learn more, go to iehp.org.