The Commission on Care was established by the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act of 2014 and charged "to examine the access of veterans to health care from the Department of Veterans Affairs and strategically examine how best to organize the Veterans Health Administration, locate health resources, and deliver health care to veterans during the 20 year period beginning on the date of the enactment." In December, 2015, The Commission requested a briefing from  the VHA Office of Health Equity by Dr. Uchenna S. Uchendu. Click the following link for Dr. Uchendu’s  presentation and other details:http://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/News_Events.asp#CoC

 A recent Evidence-based Synthesis Program Coordinating Center (ESP CC) rapid review of evidence on racial and ethnic differences in outcomes for VA patients found moderate- and low-strength evidence to suggest gaps in morbidity and mortality outcomes among vulnerable Veteran populations with major conditions. The report also found that the few interventions that have improved racial/ethnic disparities within the VA have focused primarily on African Americans and have covered a narrow scope of clinical areas. The rapid review was requested and supported by the Office of Health Equity. For more details and the full report visit:http://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/Research.asp#synthesis

Complete, reliable, and consistent measurement of racial and ethnic background in healthcare is critical for valid health equity and disparity studies. However, despite many efforts, missing data on race/ethnicity are common in VA data. The Office of Health Equity partnered with the Health Equity and Rural Outreach Innovation Center (HEROIC) Center of Innovation (COIN) to explore ways for addressing this gap. This cyberseminar will share the findings with regard to: (1) patient and provider attitudes, challenges and preferences for how to collect race/ethnicity and (2) statistical approaches to address missing race/ethnicity data in the VAMC.  The target audiences are researchers, behavioral scientists, clinicians, policy makers, educators, stakeholders and representatives/advocates for vulnerable Veteran groups who are interested in understanding and/or promoting equitable health among all Veterans. The archived session of this cyberseminar which was held during Minority Health Month in April is now available on the following link:http://www.va.gov/HEALTHEQUITY/News_Events.asp#cyberseminars