Toward Health Equity and Patient-Centeredness

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

Rapporteurs: Samantha Chao, Karen Anderson, and Lyla Hernandez
Forum on the Science of Health Care Quality Improvement and Implementation;
Roundtable on Health Disparities; Roundtable on Health Literacy; Institute of Medicine, 2009

Available online at; http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=12502

“….To receive the greatest value for health care, it is important to focus on issues of quality and disparity, and the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions based on basic health knowledge and services.

During this workshop, speakers and participants explored how equity in care delivered and a focus on patients could be improved….”

“…..The workshop began with the presentation of a vision for integrating disparities reduction, health literacy, and quality improvement to achieve better outcomes, followed by a panel of speakers who addressed building a foundation for integration of these three areas. A second panel addressed using quality improvement as a tool to improve health literacy and reduce disparities at the practitioner level

Discussion Groups centered questions on:
• What specific activities could be undertaken to effectively integrate quality improvement, disparities reduction, and improved health literacy?
• How can such integration be more patient-centered?
• What systems integration and systems changes might be necessary to achieve greater patient-centeredness and equity?

A third panel discussed policy issues related to integration, including standards and priorities that could foster improvement in patient-centered care and equity; types of measures that could be developed to understand the contributions of health literacy and disparities reduction to improved quality; how efforts at integration could be evaluated; and issues of financing, education, and training….”

Content:

1 Introduction
2 Opportunity at the Intersection of Quality Improvement, Disparities Reduction, and Health Literacy
3 Building the Foundation for Integrating Health Literacy, Disparities Reduction, and Quality Improvement in Health and Health Care
4 Integration at the Practitioner Level
5 Breakout Groups
6 Policy Issues of Integration
7 Concluding Remarks
References