Texas Medical Foundation (TMF) Health Quality Institute, the Quality Improvement Organization in Texas, Profiled in American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) Newsletter. TMF’s work on the Everyone with Diabetes Counts (EDC) was profiled in an article in the March issue of AADE newsletter, AADE in Practice. The current TMF EDC project, Health for Life/Everyone With Diabetes Counts, focuses on African American populations in Houston and its surrounding counties, as well as deep East Texas. Congratulations to TMF for this recognition of their outstanding work. Click here to hear more about the program...
Health Care Quality Slowly Improving, While Some Americans Still Lack Access
The quality of U.S. health care is slowly improving, while access to health care remains a great challenge for some Americans, especially racial and ethnic minorities and low-income people, according to AHRQ’s 2012 National Healthcare Quality Report and National Healthcare Disparities Report. The new reports call for “urgent attention” on continuing improvements in the quality of diabetes care, maternal and child health care, and treatment for conditions such as pressure ulcers and blood clots. Included in this year’s reports are new measures on early and adequate prenatal care, colorectal cancer screening, national rate of hospital-acquired conditions, standardized infection ratios at the state level for central line-associated bloodstream infections, and patient safety culture hospital survey findings. Quality and access data predate passage of the Affordable Care Act, which is addressing many of these issues. The reports are available online at ahrq.gov 
The Affordable Care Act offers the potential to address the needs of racial and ethnic minority populations, by bringing down health care costs, investing in prevention and wellness, supporting improvements in primary care, and creating linkages between the traditional realms of health and social services.
HHS Action Plan
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently unveiled the most 
comprehensive federal commitment yet to reducing racial and ethnic health disparities. The 2011 HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities not only responds to advice previously offered by stakeholders around the nation, but it also capitalizes on new and unprecedented opportunities in the Affordable Care Act of 2010 to benefit diverse communities. Read the HHS Action Plan [pdf]
National Partnership for Action
The National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity provides a common set of goals and objectives for public and private sector initiatives and partnerships to help racial and ethnic minorities -- and other underserved groups -- reach their full health potential.
"National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity - Exec Summary" [pdf]
