Current Activity: The draft report is now available. Read the Report.
The Opportunity
One essential step to improving the quality of healthcare performance is to eliminate disparities in care. Healthcare disparities may be exacerbated by many things including specific health conditions, differences in access to care, provider biases, poor patient-provider communication, and poor health literacy. The Institute of Medicine report, Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care, found that racial and ethnic minorities often receive lower quality of care than their white counterparts, even after controlling for factors such as insurance, socioeconomic status, comorbidities, and stage of presentation. An integral understanding of healthcare disparities measurement is needed to create a long term agenda for improving healthcare quality for vulnerable populations and others adversely affected by disparities. By analyzing the effectiveness of quality measures already in place and identifying gaps, the National Quality Forum (NQF) aims to establish a more detailed picture of how to approach measurement of healthcare disparities across settings and populations.
About the Project
The Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency Consensus Standards project seeks to expand on NQF’s previous work where a set of criteria to evaluate disparities-sensitive measures was identified and 35 disparity-sensitive measures for the ambulatory care setting were endorsed (National Voluntary Consensus Standards for Ambulatory Care – Measuring Healthcare Disparities). This project will begin with a commissioned paper outlining the methodological concerns with measuring disparities, such as implications of risk adjustment and stratification, unintended consequences of public reporting, and data collection; and revising the NQF disparities-sensitive evaluation criteria. This commissioned paper will help inform future efforts on developing and endorsing performance measures for disparities and cultural competency.
Process
This project will be conducted in two phases. In Phase I, a contractor will develop a commissioned paper, which will serve as a conceptual model to guide measure development, revise the NQF disparities-sensitive criteria, and identify broader sets of disparities-sensitive measures within the NQF portfolio. Phase I of this project is scheduled to be completed in September 2011.
In Phase II, candidate standards will be considered for NQF endorsement as voluntary consensus standards. Agreement around the recommendations will be developed through NQF’s Consensus Development Process (CDP, Verison 1.8). This project involves the active participation of representatives from across the spectrum of healthcare stakeholders. A Steering Committee will oversee the work of the commissioned paper and the consensus project.
Funding
This project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Related NQF Work
Contact Information
For more information, contact Nicole W. McElveen, MPH, or Elisa Munthali, MPH, at 202-783-1300 or via email at disparities@qualityforum.org.
The Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency Consensus Standards
project seeks to expand on NQF’s previous work where a set of criteria
to evaluate disparities-sensitive measures was identified and 35
disparity-sensitive measures for the ambulatory care setting were
endorsed.
NQF sought nominations for members of a Steering Committee for a new two-phase project to endorse measures that specifically address disparities across settings and populations, cultural competency, and identify disparities-sensitive measure sets and gaps within the NQF portfolio of endorsed standards.
The Call for Nominations for Steering Committee members closed on March 18, 2011. For more information, please refer to the Call for Nominations document.
The 14-day review period for submitted
nominees closed on May 31, 2011. Members and the public were able to provide
feedback on the proposed roster and identify gaps in the committee
representation. NQF has identified and worked to ensure representation from the
supplier council and the federal sector.
Final Steering Committee Roster (PDF)
Steering Committee Bios (PDF)
This commissioned paper will serve as a conceptual model to guide measure development, revise the NQF disparities-sensitive criteria, and identify broader sets of disparities-sensitive measures within the NQF portfolio. The work on the commissioned paper will begin in April 2011 and the final draft will be available for public and member comment.
Commissioned
Paper (PDF)
The Healthcare Disparities and Cultural Competency Steering Committee met July 11-12 to discuss the first draft of the Commissioned Paper.
The Steering Committee began meeting in February 2012.
Measures Submitted (PDFs)
The draft report is expected to be available for Member voting in May 2012. Members will have 30 days to submit their vote.
CSAC is expected to consider endorsement of measures in July 2012.
After the CSAC makes its decision the NQF Board has seven days to
ratify any endorsements. Any information pertaining to the Board’s
deliberations will be posted when available.
The public will have 30 days to appeal the final decision to endorse a
voluntary consensus standard. The appeals process will begin once the
Board’s decision has been made.
