The
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) held a public
workshop December, 2016 that explored the importance of affordable and
accessible community-based housing especially for vulnerable adults. Dr.
Uchenna S. Uchendu, Chief Officer of the VA Office of Health Equity and
member of the NASEM
Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health
Disparities, served on the planning committee and on the
reactor panel that addressed policy implications and research needs discussed
during the workshop.
Dr. Uchendu highlighted partnerships with Veteran service
organizations and stakeholders to collect data on military service, partnering
with the VA, and the incorporation of social determinants of health in the
electronic health record. These steps further ensure that community-housing
programs are serving all Veterans especially vulnerable Veterans. According to
the new report, “The VA is a good model of
where health care and social determinants such as housing intersect, Uchendu
said. Veterans’ benefits administered by the VA include education through the
G.I. Bill, housing via VA loan guarantees, and housing the homeless through its
partnership with HUD and other stakeholders." [Read More]
The new report, Developing
Affordable and Accessible Community-Based Housing for Vulnerable Adults:
Proceedings of a Workshop, was released May 17, 2017 and can be
downloaded for free.
Source:
National
Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2017. Developing affordable and accessible
community-based housing for vulnerable adults: Proceedings of a workshop.
Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/24787.
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Photo Caption: Members of the Office of
Health Equity and the Office of Health Equity-QUERI Partnered Evaluation Center
at Face-to-Face Brainstorming Session in DC
A new peer-reviewed manuscript from Dr. Donna L.
Washington, MD, MH, Principal Investigator of the Office
of Health Equity-QUERI Partnered Evaluation Center and
co-authors was released today. The new manuscript, Racial And Ethnic
Disparities Persist At Veterans Health Administration Patient-Centered Medical
Homes, explores the implementation of the VHA patient-centered medical home
and racial and ethnic disparities in hypertension and diabetes outcome data. The
manuscript is published in the June 2017 issue of Health Affairs journal themed, “Pursuing
Health Equity.”
Dr.
Washington, along with a panel of experts and other authors, participated in a high- level
conversation
about contributing factors to health and health care disparities today at the
National Press Club in Washington, DC. Dr. Washington will also present the findings
from this new manuscript at the June 2017 Focus on
Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar on Thursday, June 29th, 2017. Details
and registration information about the session are available further below.
Racial
and Ethnic Disparities Persist At Veterans Health Administration
Patient-Centered Medical Homes
Abstract: Patient-centered medical
homes are widely promoted as a primary care delivery model that achieves better
patient outcomes. It is unknown if their benefits extend equally to all
racial/ethnic groups. In 2010 the Veterans Health Administration, part of the Department
of Veterans Affairs (VA), began implementing patient-centered medical homes
nationwide. In 2009 significant disparities in hypertension or diabetes control
were present for most racial/ethnic groups, compared with white veterans. In
2014 hypertension disparities were similar for blacks, had become smaller but
remained significant for Hispanics, and were no longer significant for
multiracial individuals, whereas disparities were now significant for American
Indian/Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians/other Pacific Islanders. By
contrast, in 2014 diabetes disparities were similar for American Indian/Alaska
Natives, Blacks, and Hispanics, and were no longer significant for Native
Hawaiians/other Pacific Islanders. We found that the modest benefits of the
VA’s implementation of patient-centered medical homes were offset by competing
multifactorial external, health system, provider, and patient factors, such as
increased patient volume. To promote health equity, health care innovations
such as patient-centered medical homes should incorporate tailored strategies
that account for determinants of racial/ethnic variations. Evaluations of
patient-centered medical homes should monitor outcomes for racial/ethnic
groups.
Source: Washington DL, Steers WN, Huynh AK, Frayne SM, Uchendu
US, Riopelle D, Yano EM, Saechao FS, Hoggatt KJ. (2017) Racial And Ethnic Disparities Persist At Veterans Health Administration Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Health Affairs, 36(6):1086-1094.
Please join the Office of Health Equity for the June 2017 Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar titled, “Chronic Health Conditions among Vulnerable Veterans: Current Research and Action.” Event description and registration information is below.
Chronic Health Conditions among Vulnerable Veterans: Current Research and Action
Thursday, June 29th, 2017
3:00 – 4:00 PM (EST)
Event Description
June’s Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar session spotlights recent publications on chronic health conditions and disparities among vulnerable Veteran patient groups:
- The Obesity Epidemic in the Veterans Health Administration: Prevalence Among Key Populations of Women and Men Veterans (April 2017)
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities Persist At Veterans Health Administration Patient-Centered Medical Homes (June 2017)
Panelist will discuss the following: 1) demographic variability in the prevalence of chronic health conditions and disparities among Veterans using primary care in VHA; 2) recent efforts in using VA data to systematically characterize health and healthcare disparities in VA for vulnerable Veteran groups; 3) the potential for the patient-centered medical home to identify and reduce disparities; and 4) operational and research partnerships executed by the Office of Health Equity to advance the goals of the VA Health Equity Action Plan.
Confirmed Speakers
-
Jessica Y. Breland, PhD
VA Palo Alto Healthcare System, Palo Alto, CA
-
Donna L. Washington, MD, MPH
VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, Los Angeles, CA
-
Uchenna S. Uchendu, MD
Chief Officer, Office of Health Equity, Washington, DC
Background Resources
-
Breland, J.Y., Phibbs, C.S., Hoggatt, K.J., Washington, D.L., Lee, J., Haskell, S., Uchendu, U.S., Saechao, F.S., Zephyrin, L.C. & Frayne, S.M. (2017). The obesity epidemic in the Veterans Health Administration: Prevalence among key populations of women and men Veterans. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 32(1):11-17.
- Washington DL, Steers WN, Huynh AK, Frayne SM, Uchendu US, Riopelle D, Yano EM, Saechao FS, Hoggatt KJ. (2017) Racial And Ethnic Disparities Persist At Veterans Health Administration Patient-Centered Medical Homes. Health Affairs, 36(6):1086-1094.
Visit
the Office of Health Equity website at https://www.va.gov/healthequity/ for more details
about Veteran health equity issues, VA’s strategic plan to achieve health
equity for Veterans (Health Equity Action
Plan),
and to learn more about the Focus on Health
Equity and Action Cyberseminar series.
 Despite some progress in eliminating or reducing health disparities in the VA healthcare system, health and healthcare disparities unfortunately exist for some vulnerable Veterans. The Office of Health Equity-QUERI Partnered Evaluation Center, led by Dr. Donna L. Washington, Principal Investigator, was established to support the VA Office of Health Equity’s efforts to better understand the extent of these disparities and engender appropriate actions. Join Dr. Washington this month as she discusses the work of the Office of Health Equity-QUERI Partnered Evaluation Center.
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Using VA Data to
Characterize Health and Healthcare Disparities in VA
Tuesday, June 20th,
2017
12:00 – 1:00 PM (EST)
Event Description
The
Office of Health Equity-QUERI Partnered Evaluation Center uses VA data to
systematically characterize the health and healthcare disparities in the VA for
vulnerable Veteran groups. This presentation will describe the challenges and
strategies for using VA data to measure characteristics of vulnerable
populations, such as race/ethnicity and socio-economic status. The cyberseminar
will also present findings on health and healthcare disparities in the VA.
Objectives
- Describe
the data sources and data decisions used to construct vulnerable population
characteristics, such as race/ethnicity and measures of socio-economic status.
-
Describe
variations in patient experiences of VA care and in VA care quality by
vulnerable population characteristics.
Additional Resource
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