Massachusetts Health Disparities Council

Recommendations of the Health Disparities Commission

Russell D. AimsChief of Staff

Massachusetts Board of Registration in MedicineJuly 27, 2009

BOARD MISSION STATEMENT

To ensure that only qualified physicians are licensed to

practice in the Commonwealth, and to support an

environment that maximizes the high quality of health

care in Massachusetts.

SPECIFIC COMMISSION RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations Require health care professionals licensing

boards to develop regulations for ensuring that licensed health care professionals receive training and education in these basic knowledge and skills. Successful qualification, credentialing and licensure of health professionals should be linked to the demonstration of specific cultural competencies and understanding of health disparities.

Certify, with evidence-based criteria, health profession training programs that qualify health professionals to meet the standards for basic cultural competence and health disparities skills.

RESPONSE Health disparities/cultural competence

education is a core competency of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) for all U.S. residency programs

U.S. residencies are also required for all International Medical Graduates

The Joint Commission and the FSMB also require the same of training programs

RESPONSE

The Board will explore requiring physician training programs to certify their adherence to the ACGME core competencies.

Add language to Board regulations supporting elimination of health disparities and promoting cultural competence of physicians.

Convene the Deans of the health professions schools and other experts to discuss and establish core standards for a curriculum, including the skills and knowledge needed to address health disparities and achieve cultural competency.

Require health disparities education which is related to the nature and causes of health disparities to be incorporated early on into the core curricula of medical, dental, nursing and allied health professions and public health schools.

Expand health education programs in schools to include health literacy skills that will result in expanded access to culturally appropriate health education

Recommendations

Health professional schools and associations for health professionals should adopt, review and promote policies, procedures and incentives to encourage community-engaged scholarship and research (also known as community-based participatory research).

Require academic institutions to incorporate service internships in areas with documented health disparities as a condition of graduation.

Recommendations

BORIM RESOURCES TO SUPPORT HEALTH DISPARITIY RESEARCH

Data Repository

Data Analysis

Partnership with DPH, Hospitals, MMS, Others

HOSPITAL REPORTING DATA BY RACE/ETHNICITY DPH AND BORIM-PCA SHARE THE DPH AND BORIM-PCA SHARE THE

SAME DATA ELEMENTSSAME DATA ELEMENTS INTER-AGENCY CHECKS AND INTER-AGENCY CHECKS AND

BALANCES ON DATA RECEIVEDBALANCES ON DATA RECEIVED REPORT JOINTLY TO THE HEALTH REPORT JOINTLY TO THE HEALTH

CARE QUALITY AND COST COUNCILCARE QUALITY AND COST COUNCIL JOINT COMMISSION ACCEPTS JOINT COMMISSION ACCEPTS

BORIM REPORTING PROCESSBORIM REPORTING PROCESS

BORIM Patient Care Assessment Division Project

Population by Race/ Ethnicity Massachusetts: 2000

Massachusetts Population 2000:

6,349,097

Whites* 83.9%

Asian/ Pacifi c I slanders*

3.9%Blacks* 5.3%

Hispanic 6.8%

American I ndians* 0.2%

*N on-H ispanic

1%

2%

3%2%

37%55%

0.2%

American Indian or AlaskanNative

Asian

Black or African American

Hispanic or Latino

Other

Unknown

White or Caucasian

Race/Ethnicity Data Gathered from PCA Incident Reports

Preliminary Data on Race and Ethnicity from BORIM:

87%

4%1%0.2%5%

3%

White

Black

Hispanic

Asian/Pacific Islander

Native American

Other

Known Cases from 2005 Hospital Discharges

82%

6%

7%2%

0.2%3%

White

Black

Hispanic

Asian/Pacific Islander

Native American

Other

OTHER BORIM PLANS New Effort to Collect Race/Ethnicity

Data on Physicians Expanded Collection of Data on

Practice Setting and Patient Care Hours

Data Analysis of Race/Ethnicity by Geographic Area/Specialty/Practice Setting

Data Partnership with DPH Health Boards

QUESTIONS?