Health Care Innovations Exchange: Policies To Reduce Health Care Disparities

Having trouble viewing this email? View it as a Web page. New Issue Focuses on Policies To Reduce Health Care Disparities The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announces the September 25 issue of the Health Care Innovations Exchange (http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov). The featured Innovations describe three programs that implemented policies to help reduce health care disparities and ensure that vulnerable populations receive equitable health care. The programs include one that subsidized the costs of electronic health record implementation for primary care practices in underserved areas and another in which a Medicaid plan collected and verified patient race, ethnicity, and language data to help identify and address disparities; as well as State legislation in California requiring that cultural competency curricula be included in continuing medical education. The featured QualityTools include the 2012 National Healthcare Disparities Report, which identifies and tracks the ways that some populations receive poor or worse care than others; a toolkit to help physicians and health care teams redesign office practices to provide the highest quality care possible to patients with limited English skills; and a guide to help hospital leaders identify and address disparities in order to achieve equitable care for patients. To access more innovation profiles, tools, and resources related to reducing health care disparities on the Innovations Exchange Web site, go to http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/innovations_qualitytools.aspx?search=underserved. Spotlight: 2012 National Healthcare Disparities Report This AHRQ report measures trends in effectiveness of care, patient safety, timeliness of care, patient centeredness, and efficiency of care for vulnerable populations; it presents six priority areas for quality improvement. This report is available at: http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/content.aspx?id=4008. Events and Podcasts: Thank you for joining us for the September 18 Web event Using the Innovations Exchange To Develop Health Professional Competencies. Event materials, including slides and an audio file, are now available on the Event page (http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/webevents/index.aspx?id=57). Thank you for participating in the September 10 TweetChat, Chats on Change: Using Social Media To Reduce Childhood Obesity. A transcript of the event is now available on the Event page (http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/webevents/index.aspx?id=56). Use the My Innovations feature http://www.innovations.ahrq.gov/accounts/createAccount.aspx to save your favorite subjects and receive e-mail alerts when new content is published within your areas of interest. New issues of the Innovations Exchange are published biweekly on Wednesdays. Please contact us at info@innovations.ahrq.gov with any questions or comments. Follow the Innovations Exchange (AHRQIX) on Twitter with this hyperlink: http://www.twitter.com/ahrqix.    How satisfied are you with this e-mail bulletin? Give Us Your Feedback Subscriber Services: Change Your Profile | Unsubscribe | Help Stay Connected: Contact Us | Social Media This email was sent to buzzhairs.health@blogger.com using GovDelivery, on behalf of: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) · 540 Gaither Road · Rockville, MD 20850 · 301-427-1364