Health Equity Data Strategy
HCIF’s Health Equity Data Strategy (HEDS) is a multi-year collaborative, which aims to decrease disparities in health outcomes for patients through the collection of race, ethnicity, and language (REaL) and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data. Partnership for Patient Care (PPC) program contributors, including hospitals, health systems, and non-acute care provider organizations, are exclusively invited to participate. Participation in this collaborative will leave organizations better equipped to identify and address disparities in their healthcare treatment through the leveraging of REaL and SOGI data.
The Health Care Improvement Foundation (HCIF) launched the Health Equity Data Strategy (HEDS) Collaborative in 2021, bringing together Partnership for Patient Care (PPC) contributing organizations with the common goal of decreasing disparities in health outcomes in our communities across the Southeast Pennsylvania region. The program’s initial focus is on the collection, stratification, and utilization of race, ethnicity, and language (REaL) and sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data in order to identify and address disparities in care and outcomes. Through the implementation of a “health equity data strategy,” organizations are better positioned to identify disparities and implement strategies for creating equitable care.
The Health Care Improvement Foundation formally enrolled eight hospitals and/or health systems that represent the Southeast PA region of Pennsylvania:
| Doylestown Hospital | Main Line Health |
| Jefferson Health | Penn Medicine |
| Jefferson Health Abington & Lansdale Hospitals | Redeemer Health |
| Magee Rehabilitation Hospital | Temple Health |
| Thomas Jefferson University Hospital | |
Through participation, organizations will: complete a HEDS baseline survey in order to assess current practices, isolate potential gaps in practice and opportunities for improvement, and identify emerging best practices; learn from local and national experts; share strategies, best practices, and resources; and develop a sustainable health equity data strategy that consists of an organization’s priorities, processes, and parameters for collection and use of patient data to advance health equity. If you are interested in becoming a HEDS participant, please contact our team.
Survey
The HEDS Baseline Survey (Report Linked Here) was administered in Fall 2021 with the purpose of assessing how organizations collect and utilize REaL data and to allow organizations to benchmark their equity data strategy journey. Participating teams are encouraged to use these survey results to better understand their current data and practices, identify areas for targeted intervention, and measure progress during the course of the collaborative.
Webinars
June 28, 2021: Kick Off Event
Featured Speaker: Jaya Aysola, MD, MPH, Executive Director and Founder of the Penn Center for Health Equity and Advancement; Chair of Penn Medicine’s Health Equity Alliance.
This collaborative kick-off meeting outlined who should participate, what participation in the collaborative will entail, and how to enroll in the collaborative. This webinar featured Jaya Aysola, MD, MPH, who discussed the value and importance of collecting and analyzing REAL data.
January 26, 2022: Using Data to Drive Action and Address Health Disparities
Featured Speaker: Shannon Davila, MSN, RN, CIC, CPHQ, FAPIC, Associate Director of the ECRI and the Institute for Safe Medication Practices Patient Safety Organization.
This webinar featured ECRI’s Shannon Davila, who discussed ECRI’s top patient safety concern for 2021 and their report, “Deep Dive: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Healthcare.” Ms. Davila also shared key strategies for understanding, detecting, and reducing disparities at an organization.
Workshops
May 26, 2022: How to Engage Patients in REaL Data
Featured Speaker: Nikki Montgomery, MA, MEd, GPAC, Executive Director of Madvocator Educational & Healthcare Advocacy Training and Program Manager for Family Voices National.
This workshop hosted participating organization’s teams to discuss the initial steps of convening their team and setting their goals. Additionally, this session focused on patient engagement and featured Nikki Montgomery, MA, MEd, GPAC, who shared about the importance of involving patients in REaL data collection and how to begin that collaboration.
February 16, 2023: Workforce Training: Sharing Best Practices and Challenges Collecting Demographic Data
Featured Speakers: Rosangely Cruz-Rojas, DrPH, Director of Performance Measurement, Improvement, & Analytics at Main Line Health and Shonalie Roberts, MHA, ARM, LSSGB, System Director of Health Equity at Main Line Health.
This workshop convened participating organization’s teams to share best practices and discuss challenges with workforce training as it pertains to REaL and SOGI data collection. This session included a spotlight on Main Line Health and their workforce training program, presented by Rosangely Cruz-Rojas, DrPH, and Shonalie Roberts, MHA, ARM, LSSGB.
Materials from workshop sessions and webinars are exclusively available to Health Equity Data Strategy Collaborative participants.
HCIF recruited twelve leaders and champions with expertise in REaL data collection and evaluation, health care disparities, and health equity to serve as advisors and provide input into program design. Advisors were convened monthly throughout 2021 and helped to establish the scope of the collaborative and a set of guiding principles, shared current resources and tools, supported the launch of the program, and provided feedback and analysis on the HEDS Baseline Survey. HCIF would like to acknowledge the important role of the advisors in helping to make the collaborative meaningful and relevant.
Jason Aronovitz, DO
Director, Population Health Analytics, Einstein Care Partners, Einstein Healthcare Network
Jaya Aysola, MD, MPH
Executive Director, and Founder, Penn Center for Health Equity and Advancement; Chair of Penn Medicine’s Health Equity Alliance, Penn Medicine
Sandra Brooks, MD, MBA
Executive Vice President; Chief Community Health Equity Officer, Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health
Victor Caraballo, MD
Vice President, Quality Management, Independence Blue Cross
Rosangely Cruz – Rojas, DrPH
Director, Performance Measurement, Improvement, & Analytics, Main Line Health
Patrick O. Gee, Sr., PhD, JLC
Patient Advisor, Founder & CEHD, iAdvocate, Inc.
Tara Hayden, MHSA
Vice President, Community Health Equity, Philadelphia Collaborative for Community Health Equity, Jefferson Health
Eve J. Higginbotham SM, MD, ML
Vice Dean, Office of Inclusion and Diversity; Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics; Professor of Ophthalmology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania and Penn Medicine
Sumesh John
Business Intelligence Developer, Redeemer Health
Felice Le-Scherban, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Drexel University’s Dornsife School of Public Health
Shonalie Roberts, MHA, ARM
System Director, Health Equity, Main Line Health
Lakisha Sturgis, RN, BSN, MPH, CPHQ
Director, Community Care Management, Temple University Health System
- American Hospital Association (AHA) Institute for Diversity and Health Equity – Health Equity Resources Series: Data-Driven Care Delivery
- AHA Institute for Diversity and Health Equity – Health Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Measures for Hospitals and Health System Dashboards
- American Society of Healthcare Risk Management – Equity of Care Assessment Tool
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data: Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement
- ECRI Institute – Deep Dive: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health and Healthcare Executive Brief
- Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET) & Washington State Hospital Association – HRET HIIN Health Equity Organizational Assessment
- Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania – Racial Health Equity Learning Action Network
April Reilly, Director