12 / 32
10
» A magazine for and about Oregon Community Hospitals.
Health Care for All
Hospital association signs pledge to eliminate health care disparities
Earlier this year, the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems’ Board
of Trustees unanimously voted to endorse the American Hospital Association’s
#123forEquity Pledge to Act to Eliminate Health Care Disparities.
Health disparities are differences in health that are
avoidable, unfair or unjust. This pledge enables hospitals to
take measurable action on their belief that nobody should be
denied the chance to live a long and healthy life because of
social, economic or environmental conditions.
“As stewards of community health, it is our commitment
to ensure that patients have equal access to medical care
when they need it,” said Jim Mattes, chair of the OAHHS
Board of Trustees and President and CEO of
Grande Ronde
Hospital
in La Grande. “This pledge supports our vision to
deliver quality health care without disparity to all those in
need of our services.”
By signing the pledge, OAHHS has agreed to urge all Oregon
hospitals to sign the #123forEquity Pledge and assist them
in their efforts to eliminate health care disparities. So far, 20
Oregon hospitals have signed.
“Critical to the success of the #123forEquity campaign is a
collective, statewide effort,” said Andy Davidson, President
and CEO of OAHHS. “We are proud that many of Oregon’s
hospitals have already signed the pledge, and we are ready to
assist all hospitals in achieving this important goal.”
Nationally, hospitals are making progress to achieve health
equity, but more work needs to be done, according to a
biennial benchmarking survey by the Institute for Diversity
in Health Management. The survey found significant
increases from 2013 in the percentage of hospitals that
are using data on patient race, ethnicity and language to
identify gaps in care and implement programs to improve
quality. However, fewer than half of the hospitals surveyed
used the data in this way.
The survey also found that 80 percent of hospitals educate
all clinical staff during orientation about how to address
the unique cultural and linguistic factors affecting the
care of patients, and 79 percent offer continuing education
opportunities on cultural competence. While minorities
represent 32 percent of hospital patients nationally in
2015, according to the survey, only 14 percent of hospital
board members and 11 percent of executive leadership were
minorities–similar to the results of the 2013 survey.
“Hospitals across America are working hard to advance
quality and improve care for every individual,” said
AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack. “Understanding
why different patient populations in a community may
experience different outcomes is a critical piece of those
efforts. The survey tells us that we have not made as much
progress as we would have liked in some key areas. It shines
a light on where more attention is needed to meet the
expectations of patients and communities.”
By signing the #123forEquity Pledge, hospitals agree to:
•
Choose a quality measure to stratify by race, ethnicity
or language preference, or other sociodemographic
variables (such as income, disability status, veteran
status, sexual orientation and gender).
•
Determine if a health care disparity exists in this
quality measure. If yes, design a plan to address
this gap.
•
Provide cultural competency training for all staff
or develop a plan to ensure staff receives cultural
competency training.
•
Have a dialogue with their board and leadership team
on how to reflect the community, and what actions can
be taken to address any gaps.
“We believe that by taking action on this pledge we will
both help improve the health of our state’s most vulnerable
citizens and also improve our respective relationship with
the communities that we serve,” said Davidson. “It is our goal
to have 100 percent member participation in this pledge.”
H