Leveraging Equity Measures Part I and Part II

About this On Demand Training

Cost: $269

Leveraging Equity Measures to Identify and Incentivize improvements in Racial Inequities in Care Part I – OnDemand

Duration: 1.25 hours

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) shared the results of a new analysis of racial and ethnic inequities in health care and became the first health plan in Massachusetts to announce it will incorporate equity measures — differences in the quality of care across racial and ethnic groups — into its contracts and payment programs with clinicians who care for Blue Cross members. In preparation for equity-based payment incentives, BCBSMA has partnered with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) to convene an Equity Action Community to develop equity-improving capabilities among providers and facilitate collaboration among them.

NCQA will host Dr. Mark Friedberg, Senior Vice President, Performance Measurement & Improvement at Blue Cross and Shannon Welch, MPH, Senior Director at Institute for Healthcare Improvement, for a presentation on this groundbreaking work. Join faculty for an overview of Blue Cross’ plan to address health inequity and racial injustice, results from the recently released Health Equity Report and the launch of a new collaborative intended to assist physicians and hospitals in improving racial inequities in care.

Leveraging Equity Measures to Identify and Incentivize improvements in Racial Inequities in Care Part II 

Live Webinar, November 16, 2022, at 12:00 pm ET

Duration: 1 hour

In September 2021, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) began to publicly share its analyses on racial and ethnic inequities in health care experienced by members, and became the first health plan in the nation to announce it will incorporate equity measures—differences in the quality of care across racial and ethnic groups—into its contracts and payment programs with clinicians who care for Blue Cross members. 

In this session, the presenters will give an overview of the methodological challenges to measurement-based efforts to improve health equity, and will explain how BCBSMA has addressed these challenges. Challenges have included collecting self-reported race and ethnicity data directly; assessing the accuracy of race and ethnicity data available from other sources; imputing missing race and ethnicity data and accounting for their measurement properties for reporting and accountability; and designing a pay-for-equity program that meets high validity and reliability standards.

Join this training and learn about the BCBSMA plan to help bridge the gap of systemic health inequity and racial injustice.

Faculty

Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP

Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP is Senior Vice President, Performance Measurement & Improvement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He is a practicing general internist in primary care & an assistant professor of medicine, part-time, at Brigham & Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School. Dr. Friedberg received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, his M.D. from HMS & his M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is responsible for all activities related to measuring and improving the performance of BCBSMA’s provider network, including metrics used in value-based contracts such as our Alternative Quality Contract, and he oversees data analytics related to BCBSMA’s own performance as a health plan.

Shannon Welch, MPH

Shannon Welch, MPH, is a Senior Director for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).  Her fifteen years of experience working in public health drives her passion and commitment to equity-focused work. Shannon’s current portfolio of projects includes work on equity and population health initiatives. Shannon recently led IHI’s Merck for Mothers Better Maternal Outcomes: Redesigning Systems with Black Women initiative and currently leads the Pursuing Equity Learning and Action Network that aims to reduce inequities in health and health care access, treatment, and outcomes by implementing comprehensive strategies to create and sustain equitable health systems.

Prior to joining IHI, Shannon worked for the Oklahoma City-County Health Department as the Division Director of Community Health.  During her tenure with the agency, she had primary oversight for a broad portfolio of programs: Wellness Now (a 350-member, community-led coalition), fetal infant mortality review/maternal and child health outreach, chronic disease prevention, school health, tobacco use prevention, physical activity and nutrition, teen pregnancy prevention, WIC, Children First (Nurse Family Partnership) and employee wellness.  Shannon is a graduate from the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a B.S. in Health and Sport Sciences. She holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center.  

Event Type

1. Live Online