Diversity and Health Disparities Update

We would like to share with you recent resources, interesting programs and upcoming events on the topics of health care diversity and health disparities.

EVENTS

Institute for Diversity: Diversity Dialogue Series
The Institute for Diversity's October Diversity Dialogue, "Waiting for Health Equity" will take place Tuesday, Oct. 24, from 1-2:30 p.m. ET. The Dialogue will consider two frameworks that provide new insight into how inequity operates, examine the role of health systems in addressing oppression and discuss ways we can personally act to dismantle structural inequities. Following this session, participants will walk away with a deeper understanding of the root causes of health inequities and ideas for building a proactive health equity movement. Register here.

Save the Date: The Institute for Diversity's Three-Part Diversity Dialogue Webinar Series, titled "Equity of Care Award"
This series provides demonstrated examples from hospitals and health systems on what they are doing to reduce health care disparities and promote diversity and inclusion within their organizations. Part one of the series will take place Nov. 20, 2017, noon CT, and will feature honoree Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, Ill., Part two convenes Dec. 13, 2017, at noon CT, featuring honorees Advocate Health Care, Downers Grove, Ill., and Cone Health, Greensboro, N.C.  
Learn more here.

The Association of American Medical Colleges Annual Meeting – Learn Serve Lead: Health Equity Programming
The Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) annual meeting "Learn Serve Lead" will take place Nov. 3-7, 2017, and will feature nearly two dozen sessions of interest to health equity and community health scholars and practitioners. Learn about the health of criminal justice involved populations, to partnering with rural and urban communities to create interventions in response to opioids. Attendees from across the country will have an opportunity to engage in a conversation vital to our field, our teams and the patients and communities we serve. View the health equity programming agenda. Register here.

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: IHI National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care
The Institute for Healthcare Improvement's "National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care" will take place December 10-13, 2017, in Orlando, Fla. Join your peers and mentors in a variety of sessions and workshop formats, and walk away with ideas and tools you need to tackle a myriad of health care challenges. This conference is ideal for anyone interested in improving the quality and safety of health care. Register here.

The Disparities Solution Center: Disparities Leadership Program
The Disparities Solution Center at Massachusetts General Hospital is now accepting applications for the 2018-2019 Disparities Leadership Program (DLP), a year long, hands-on executive education program focused exclusively on helping health care leaders achieve equity in quality. The program is designed to help you translate the latest understanding of the problem of disparities into realistic solutions you can adopt within your organization. Learn more.

REPORTS AND RESOURCES

The American Hospital Association, Health Research & Educational Trust, and Association for Community Health Improvement: Social Determinants of Health Series
The American Hospital Association and the Health Research & Educational Trust are working to support community health through innovative campaigns, alliances, initiatives, publications and awards. This work focuses on several areas, including health equity and eliminating care disparities, community health workers, violence and safety, health system and community collaborations to advance health and social determinants of health.  In June 2017, AHA, HRET and ACHI introduced, "The Social Determinants of Health Series,"a collection of resource guides focusing on how hospitals can address the determinants of health such as food, housing and education. "Food Insecurity and the Role of Hospitals" is the first guide in this series. The second guide is titled "Housing and the Role of Hospitals" and was released August 2017. Read the guides.

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Health Research & Educational Trust: A Playbook for Fostering Hospital Community Partnerships
Building a Culture of Health means creating a society that gives all individuals an equal opportunity to live the healthiest life they can, whatever their ethnic, geographic, racial, socioeconomic or physical circumstances may be. With support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Health Research & Educational Trust has developed a playbook of effective methods, tools and strategies to create new partnerships and sustain successful existing ones.
View here.

Institute for Diversity: Strategies for Leadership: A Diversity, Equity and Cultural Competency Assessment Tool for Leaders
The U.S. today is more diverse both racially and ethnically than ever and projected to become even more diverse in the future. Leaders of health care organizations must ask whether our health care workforce, from the frontline through the executive suite, reflects the community being served. Are we focused on recruiting, retaining and promoting a diverse pipeline of employees and leaders to best serve our community? The Institute for Diversity has developed a new tool titled "Strategies for Leadership: A Diversity, Equity and Cultural Competency Assessment Tool for Leaders." This tool helps health care organizations assess their progress to create high-quality, inclusive, equitable and safe care environments aimed at eliminating health and health care disparities to improve the health and well-being of our neighbors and communities. View the tool.

The Commonwealth Fund: Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Access to Care: Has the Affordable Care Act Made a Difference?
Historically, in the United States there has been a wide gap between whites and members of minority groups in terms of health insurance coverage and access. Proponents of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) hoped that the law's major insurance coverage expansions and reforms would begin to bridge those gaps. Evidence suggests that uninsured rates have declined among blacks and Hispanics under the ACA, but have these coverage gains reduced disparities between whites and ethnic and racial minorities? This brief seeks to answer that question and to examine if disparities in access to coverage and care are different in states that expanded Medicaid and states that did not: Read the issue brief.

The National Quality Forum: A Roadmap for Promoting Health Equity and Eliminating Disparities: The Four I's for Health Equity
The National Quality Forum (NQF) convened a multi-stakeholder Committee to provide recommendations on how performance measurement and its associated policy levers can be used to reduce disparities in health and health care. A final report released Sept. 14, 2017, presents a roadmap for reducing health and health care disparities and focuses on how the U.S. health care system can use more traditional pathways to eliminate disparities. It also identifies areas where collaboration and community partnerships can be used to expand the health care system's role to better address disparities. Download the report.

The National Quality Forum: Health Equity Program
The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently launched the Health Equity Program to implement the findings and recommendations of its "Roadmap for Promoting Health Equity and Eliminating Disparities" report. The program is a comprehensive, multi-year and action-oriented approach to reduce disparities and advance the highest quality health care across communities, populations and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic groups. Learn more here.

Health Affairs: Widening Disparities in Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy Between Appalachia And the Rest of the United States
Appalachia, a region that stretches from Mississippi to New York, has historically been recognized as a socially and economically disadvantaged part of the United States. Evidence suggests that health disparities between it and the rest of the country are growing. This report explores the widening trend in disparities between the Appalachian region and the rest of the United States.
Read the report.

ARCHIVED WEBINARS, WORKSHOPS AND MEETINGS

Institute for Healthcare Improvement: What is Bias, and What Can Medical Professionals Do to Address it
Anurag Gupta, founder and CEO of Be More America, offers training to health care providers on how to overcome implicit bias. In this video, Gupta defines implicit bias and offers some practical suggestions on how to understand and reduce one's own implicit biases. View the video.