Toward Health Equity and Patient-Centeredness: Integrating Health Literacy, Disparities Reduction, and Quality Improvement

Outcomes of workshop:

1) Review the current evidence base for quality improvement approaches that address health literacy and/or reduce disparities

2) Describe several paradigmatic efforts to use quality improvement to address health literacy and/or reduce disparities

3) Explore several key conceptual and policy questions for quality improvement strategies to address health literacy and/or reduce disparities

4) Make linkages between quality improvement, health literacy and disparities reduction, with improving equity and patient-centeredness as the focus

8:00-8:15                     Opening Remarks

                                    Speaker: Ignatius Bau, The California Endowment

8:15-8:45                     Vision for better health outcomes: Integration of disparities reduction, health literacy, and quality improvement

Speaker: George Isham, HealthPartners

8:45-9:30                     Building the foundation for integrating health literacy, disparities reduction, and quality improvement in health and health care

                                    Moderator: Ignatius Bau, The California Endowment

·        Health Literacy: A Matter of Healthcare Quality and Equity

Speaker: Michael Wolf, Northwestern University

·        Integrating Health Literacy, Disparities Reduction and Quality Improvement

Speaker: Cindy Brach, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

·        Patient-Centeredness as an Indicator of Quality - measures of patient centeredness and how issues of health literacy and health disparities interact to impact quality

Speaker: Mary Catherine Beach, Johns Hopkins University

9:30-10:00                   Discussion

10:15-11:00                 Integration at the practitioner level: Using quality improvement as a tool to improve health literacy and reduce disparities

Speakers will describe the type of system in which they work, why they see integration as important for that system, and discuss how approaches to improve quality and health literacy, and reduce disparities might be used in that system to improve equity and patient-centered care.

Moderator: Jack Lewin, American College of Cardiology

                                    Speakers:

·        Health plan—Lisa Latts, WellPoint

·        Ambulatory care—Tom Sequist, Harvard Vanguard

·        Hospital—Michael Pignone, University of North Carolina

11:00-12:00                 Responses and reflections on using quality improvement

                                    Speakers: Nicole Lurie, Marshall Chin, Steve Somers

1:30-2:30                     Breakout Session         

·        Health plan

Leader: Alicia Dixon, The California Endowment

·        Ambulatory care

Leader: Francis Chesley, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

·        Hospital

Leader: Thomas Boat, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center

Questions to be discussed:

1) Describe a specific activity which effectively integrates quality improvement, disparities reduction and addressing health literacy

2) How can such integration be more patient-centered?

3) What systems integration and systems changes might be necessary to achieve greater patient-centeredness and equity?

2:30-3:15                     Group Reports

                                    Moderator: Marshall Chin, University of Chicago

3:30-4:00                     Policy Issues of Integration

Issues to be addressed include:

·        What standards/priorities should be put in place to foster improvement in patient-centered care and equity?

·        What types of measures need to be developed?

·        How can efforts be evaluated?

·        Financing

·        Education/training

Moderator: Winston Wong, Kaiser Permanente

Speakers:

·        National: Paul Schyve, Joint Commission

·        Other: Romana Hasnain-Wynia, Northwestern University

4:00-4:15                     Discussion

                                    Moderator: Winston Wong

4:15-5:00                     Summary/conclusions: Closing remarks from chairs of forums/roundtables