Health Equity Research
Mitigating the adverse effects of health inequities—as well as addressing their origins in American institutions, structures and systems—requires collaboration across the health care industry, as well as beyond it, into communities that health care organizations serve and at the state and federal levels.
White Papers and Research
NCQA’s body of work to improve health equity includes its standards-based programs, measurement, and research that span multiple types of stakeholders and customers, as well as multiple topics with health equity implications. The NCQA team contributes to existing literature on health disparities through the development of manuscripts and abstracts published in peer-reviewed journals or featured at industry conferences.
Our work includes:
- Existing literature, programs and quality measures pertaining to health disparities.
- Reference materials that guide decision making from the focused efforts of the Health Equity Collaborative.
- Facilitated meetings and webinars.
Contributions to the Knowledge Base on Health Disparities:
- Federal Action Is Needed to Improve Race and Ethnicity Data in Health Programs (Grantmakers in Health)
- Critical Inputs for Successful Health Worker Programs (NCQA & Penn Center for Community Health Workers)
- An Equity Agenda for the Field of Health Care Quality Improvement. (National Academy of Medicine)
- 17 Tips to Improve Race & Ethnicity Data.
- National Racial/Ethnic and Geographic Disparities in Adult Medicaid Beneficiaries’ Experiences with Health Care. (Health Services Research)
- Inpatient Care Experiences Differ by Preferred Language Within Racial/Ethnic Groups. (Health Services Research)
- Using Ancillary Sociodemographic Data to Identify Sexual Minorities Among Those Responding “Something Else” or “Don’t Know” to the National Health Interview Survey Sexual Orientation Question. (Medical Care)
- Lab-based and Diagnosis-Based Chronic Kidney Disease Recognition and Staging Concordance (BioMed Central Nephrology)
- Explaining the Relationship Between Minority Group Status and Health Disparities: A Review of Selected Concepts (Health Equity)
- An Integrated Approach To Measuring Sexual Orientation Disparities In Women’s Access To Health Services: An NHIS Application (LGBT Health)
- Rates of Disenrollment from Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plans Are Higher Among Racial, Ethnic, and Linguistic Minorities (Innovation in Aging)
- Opioid Prescribing in the 2016 Medicare Fee-for-Service Population (Journal of the American Geriatric Society)
- The Development of a Patient-Reported Functional Limitations Index (American Journal of Managed Care)
- Voluntary Disenrollment From Medicare Advantage Plans Is Higher Among Racial and Ethnic Minorities (Oral presentation at AcademyHealth 2020 ARM)
- Incentivizing Excellent Care to At-Risk Groups With a Health Equity Summary Score (Journal of General Internal Medicine)
Research Reports and Data highlights published on the CMS website:
- Impact of Hospital Readmissions Reduction Initiatives on Vulnerable Populations
- Chronic Kidney Disease Often Undiagnosed in Medicare Beneficiaries.
- Toward the Creation of a Patient-Reported Disability Index
- Opioid Prescription in Medicare Beneficiaries: Prescription Opioid Policies and Implications for Beneficiaries with Sickle Cell Disease
- Medicare-Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries With Opioid Use Disorder in 2018: Disparities in Prevalence by Beneficiary Characteristics
- The Invisible Crisis: Understanding Pain Management in Medicare Beneficiaries With Sickle Cell Disease
- Comparing Puerto Rican’s Health Status, Access to Care, and Satisfaction With Care to Their Mainland Counterparts Prior to Hurricane Maria
- Listening Session on Social Determinants of Health Data Elements: Summary of Findings
- Prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries, Age 18-75 Years, in 2016
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Mental Health Among Diverse Groups of Medicare Advantage Beneficiaries