SNAPSHOTS OF HEALTH DISPARITIES ACTIVITIES
Center for Medicare
Current Activities
- Analysis of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS), Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) and Prescription Drug Event (PDE) for selected measures by contractual agreement to review disparities gaps with health plans.
- Bundled Payment for the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA), Section 153(b) is already in place which works with the 2728 form on bundled payment.
Future Activities
- Public reporting of measures by the following racial/ethnicity groups will be displayed by plan for Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics/Latinos and Asian Pacific Islanders. (Information for these groups will only be displayed for a particular measure if the contract has enough enrollees by a specific race/ethnicity category to produce valid and reliable estimates. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will develop language to explain the absence of a particular contract in the drill down).
- Hospital Value-Based Purchasing
- Nursing Home Value-Based Purchasing
- MIPPA section 153(c)
Center for Medicaid, CHIP and Survey & Certification
Current Activities
- Under the High Value Health Care Project (HVHC) the Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform will develop and implement a series of initiatives and projects geared toward measuring and addressing racial/ethnic health care inequalities
- The results pertain to best practices for measuring and reporting quality information with specific regard to racial/ethnic health care equity. These efforts will advance the objectives laid out in the Quality Alliance Steering Committee (QASC) Roadmap by:
- Developing foundations: identifying priorities for quality performance measurement based on the National Quality Forum (NQF) endorsed "disparities-sensitive measures;"
- Generating performance information: coordinating processes and mechanisms to collect racial/ethnic identifiers at multiple entry points in health care systems and providing feedback about the experiences and effective practices of heath care systems that have collected standardized racial/ethnic identifiers; and,
- Reporting and utilizing performance information: providing consumers and other stakeholders with local/regional performance reports on individual providers and health systems.
Future Activities
- Assume a leadership role in the development of a Medical Home Model Concept for States to implement across programs (e.g., Medicaid, Primary Care Case Management (PCCM), and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP))
- Work with private sector organizations
- Leverage Medicare experience with focused projects on eliminating disparities
- Understand the social epidemiology (determinants) at the core of disparities
- Convene all State Offices on Minority Health (SOMH)
- The core of disparities initiatives must be driven by coordinated, verifiable data (e.g., link eligibility, enrollment, and encounter data)
Office of Information Services (OIS)
Current Activities
- Correction protocols for MIPPA Section 185 Report to Congress
- Cross match between the Enrollment Database (EDB) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) Numident (Numerical Identification System) file (annually)
- Cross match between the EDB and the Indian Health Services (4 times yearly)
Future Activities
- Race/Ethnicity Imputation Algorithms
- Existing Projects (Hispanic/Latino and Asian Pacific Islander data)
- Future Protocols for additional corrective measures
Office of Research, Development and Information
Current Activities
- Grant to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions for clinical areas, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and health promotion and education
Future Activities
- Coordinate the geographic location of grants with focused areas of need with the state specific projects
OFFICE OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS AND BENEFICIARY SERVICES
Current Activities
- Faith-based programs and coordination
- Hispanic Elders program
- Low-income subsidy campaigns
- Coordination of health disparities events (presentation/conferences)
- Health Education External Workgroup
Future Activities
- Faith-based programs and coordination
- Hispanic Elders program
- Low-income subsidy campaigns
- Coordination of health disparities events (presentations/conferences)
OFFICE OF CLINICAL STANDARDS AND QUALITY
Current Activities
- Office of Clinical Standards and Quality (OCSQ):
- Beneficiary Protection
- Patient Safety
- Prevention Core
- Prevention (Disparities)
- Care Transitions
- Prevention Chronic Kidney Disease
- Health Disparities Forum
- Coordination with Eliminating Disparities in Clinical Trials on sensitizing providers and Medicare beneficiaries on clinical trials
- Coverage Analysis Group (CAG): Clinical Trials/National Coverage Decisions (aimed at reduction in disparities)
- Clinical Standards Group: Regulations Development/Clarification (for disparate populations)
- Quality Improvement Group (QIG): Interventions to reduce disparities (i.e., 9th Statement of Work)
- Quality Measurement Health Assessment Group (QMHAG): Measures development for disparities reduction (i.e., health literacy measures development)
- Front Office: Improving data on race and ethnicity (i.e., MIPPA Section 185)
- OCSQ Special Studies
- LiPak – Lump preservation
- Federally Qualified Health Center: Dissemination of Best Practices for Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- Unintended Consequences – Exploration for End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) payment processes
- Data Disparities Center – Analysis of 7.1 Sub-National Task's actual lab results
- Mississippi Health First – Diabetes education initiative
- Tennessee (Every Diabetic Counts)
- CKD: Reduction and diabetes reduction within priority populations emphasis
Future Activities
- Implementation of MIPPA Section 185
- Development and Implementation of State specific project
- Dissemination of best practices from special studies
- Implementation of disparities throughout the 10th Scope of Work
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