QUICK FACTS
Heart disease and stroke, the nation's leading causes of death, account for the largest proportion of inequality in life expectancy between whites and blacks, despite the existence of low-cost treatment.
Source: CDC, 2011
EVENTS / CONFERENCES
April 2011
Nationwide
Aug. 9-11, 2011
Atlanta
2011 National Conference on Health Communication, Marketing and Media
QIO THEME INFORMATION
Prevention
The overall goal of the Prevention Theme is to improve the quality and frequency of preventive healthcare services to optimize beneficiary quality of life and healthcare efficiencies. The national theme (core prevention) builds on the QIO 8th Scope of Work (SOW) by focusing on QIOs' abilities to impact the rates of two cancer screenings (mammography and colorectal cancer [CRC] and two immunizations (influenza and pneumococcal) among Medicare beneficiaries in each state or jurisdiction.
Beneficiary Protection
QIOs will continue to carry out statutorily mandated review activities, such as reviewing the quality of care provided to beneficiaries; reviewing Medicare beneficiary appeals of certain provider notices; reviewing potential anti-dumping cases; and implementing quality improvement activities resulting from case review activities.
Patient Safety
The primary activities involved in the theme will focus on nine tasks. These are recruiting participating practices; Identifying the pool of nonparticipating practices; Promoting care management processes for preventive services using electronic health records (EHRs); Completing assessments of care processes; Assisting with data submission; Monitoring statewide rates (mammograms, CRC screenings, influenza and pneumococcal immunizations); administering an assessment of care practices; Producing an annual report of statewide trends, showing baselines and rates; and Submitting plans to optimize performance.
In addition to these national themes, QIOs in select states focus on the following tasks:
Prevention: Disparities
QIOs work in 4 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands to support diabetes self-management education efforts for diabetic patients across racial/ethnic populations. The states are Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, and New York.
Prevention: Chronic Kidney Disease
QIOs work in ten states and one territory to slow the progression of chronic kidney disease to kidney failure and to improve clinical care for all kidney patients. These states and territory are Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and the U.S. Virgin Islands
Care Transitions
A subnational theme that includes 14 QIOs. This theme focuses on improving coordination across the continuum of care. In particular, QIOs will promote seamless transitions from the hospital to home, skilled nursing care, or home health care. QIOs will work to reduce unnecessary readmissions to hospitals that may increase risk or harm to patients and cost to Medicare. CMS will look to QIOs to implement projects that effect process improvements to address issues in medication management, post-discharge follow-up, and plans of care for patients who move across health care settings.
HEALTH DISPARITIES IN THE NEWS
Health Care Quality Gaps and Disparities Persist in Every State
From HealthNewsDigest.com
States are seeing improvements in health care quality, but disparities for their minority and low- income residents persist, according to the 2010 State Snapshots, released today by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
New Hampshire, Minnesota, Maine, Massachusetts and Rhode Island showed the greatest overall performance improvement in 2010. The five states with the smallest overall performance improvement were Kentucky, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas. As in previous years, AHRQ's 2010 State Snapshots show that no state does well or poorly on all quality measures.
HHS Announces Plan to Reduce Health Disparities
National Partnership for Action launches strategy to strengthen and expand community-led efforts to achieve health equity
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today launched two strategic plans aimed at reducing health disparities.
The HHS Action Plan to Reduce Health Disparities outlines goals and actions HHS will take to reduce health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities.
HHS also released the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health Equity, 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. The strategy, a product of the National Partnership for Action (NPA), incorporates ideas, suggestions and comments from thousands of individuals and organizations across the country. The NPA was coordinated by the HHS Office of Minority Health.
Social Disparities in Internet Patient Portal Use in Diabetes: Evidence that the Digital Divide Extends Beyond Access
A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association examined differences in utilization of information technology among diabetic patients in Northern California, and found that African Americans, Latinos, and people with lower levels of education were less likely to use the internet-based patient portal to access medical care services than non-Hispanic Caucasians or persons with a higher level of education.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
In 2009, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that was signed into law by President Obama on March 23, 2010 (Pub.L.No.111-148) containing several provisions aimed at reducing health disparities. The new set of laws aims at reducing healthcare cost and increase health coverage. This is a summary of some of the provisions to improve the health of racial and ethnic diverse populations.
NACCHO Commends CDC On Release Of Disparities Report
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), whose vision is health, equity, and well-being for all people in their communities through local public health policies and service, commends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for demonstrating its commitment to reducing health disparities and inequalities by releasing a new report today.
Inside the Site
CMS Introduces