- Advocating for the services and healthcare needs for LGBT Veterans;
- Coordinating VA participation in the Healthcare Equality Index sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign from 2013-2016;
- Providing subject matter expertise and serving on the committee to develop VA’s recently released, first-ever handbook to improve the experience of transgender employees at the VA to transition at work;
- Leading cutting edge research on health disparities in transgender Veterans; and
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Providing subject matter expertise in the development of sexual orientation and gender identity data fields in the VA electronic health record to better identify and address the care needs of LGBT Veterans.
Resources
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
JY, Phibbs CS, Hoggatt KJ, Washington DL, Lee J, Haskell S, Uchendu US, Saechao
FS, Zephyrin LC, Frayne SM. (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.
July’s Focus on Health Equity and Action Cyberseminar
session spotlights the EMPOWER research project, and the Make the Connection
video project targeting vulnerable Veteran groups.
Using Effective Communication of Healthcare Disparities and Vulnerabilities to Empower Professionals, Veterans and Stakeholders
Thursday, July 27, 2017
3:00 – 4:00pm EST
Panelist will discuss the following:
-
Key
findings of the EMPOWER project which was designed to understand how to
effectively communicate with healthcare professionals about healthcare
disparities;
-
Using
tailored peer to peer Veteran stories of recovery to connect Veterans, family
members, friends, and other supporters with information, resources, and
solutions to issues affecting their lives; and
-
Operational
and research partnerships executed by the Office of Health Equity to
advance the goals of the VA Health Equity Action Plan.
Confirmed Speakers
-
Diana Burgess,
PhD
Health Science Researcher, VA Minneapolis Healthcare System, Minneapolis,
MN
-
Wendy Tenhula,
PhD
Deputy Chief Consultant for Specialty MH, VA Central Office, Washington,
DC
-
Uchenna S.
Uchendu, MD
Chief Officer, Office of Health Equity, VA Central Office, Washington, DC
Background Resources
The Office of Health Equity is committed to
increasing the number of health professionals and stakeholders and competency
to address the health equity needs of Veterans. Did you know that approximately
two-thirds of physicians in the United States have trained at the VA? VA also
sponsors approximately 10% of graduate medical training positions according to
Darrell G. Kirch, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Association
of American Medical Colleges.
In his
Foreword to the National Veteran
Health Equity Report,
Dr. Kirch describes OHE’s efforts to increase knowledge of Veteran health and equity
issues as informing “the way the next generation of physicians thinks about
equity and care for vulnerable patients.” With this in mind, OHE is pleased to
share upcoming trainings and fellowships that will inform how successful we
will be in reducing health disparities and achieving health equity.
2017 VA Diversity and Inclusion Summit:
Building the Workforce Pipeline of Tomorrow
The VA
Office of Academic Affiliations (OAA) will host VA’s inaugural Diversity Summit on June 28-29, 2017 at the Meharry Medical
College in Nashville, TN. The summit’s theme is “Building the Workforce Pipeline of Tomorrow” and it will commence
at the conclusion of the Empower2 Conference; a national meeting for those
historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have health
professions education programs.
The
summit’s purpose is to strengthen VA’s valued relationships with the HBCU
community. HBCU attendees will have a venue to explain the obstacles
experienced by their schools while working with VA. VA will provide summit
participants with additional information on its health professions training
mission and identify additional partnership opportunities. This meeting will
further provide OAA with the opportunity to identify the best approaches to
ensuring appropriate and consistent outreach to all HBCU health professions
schools. VA intends to listen and prioritize solutions to the concerns
identified at the summit.
Office
of Health Equity Chief Officer Uchenna S. Uchendu served on the planning
committee and will be moderating and participating on a panel at the event
(11:00am – 11:45am, Veteran Diversity, Equity, Demographics and Opportunities).
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Leaders for Health Equity Fellowship Program
Photo Caption: Inaugural Class of the Leaders for Health Equity Fellowship Program (2017)
Applications for the 2018 fellowship
program are currently being accepted from June 1, 2017 to July 15, 2017.
The Leaders for
Health Equity (LHE) is a fellowship program offered by the George
Washington University Health Workforce Institute through the generosity of the
Atlantic Philanthropies. The vision of the program is to develop global leaders
who understand the foundations of health inequity and have the knowledge,
skills, and courage to build more equitable organizations and communities.
Fellows are selected from the United States and the
developing world based on prior commitment in the area of health equity and
demonstrated leadership promise. The program builds and supports a linked group
of global multidisciplinary leaders equipped with the technical knowledge,
skills, and network to advance health workforce equity in their communities,
institutions, and professional circles. The program will select 10 U.S. and 5
international fellows per year. Apply for the fellowship at http://bit.ly/LHE2018.
Office of Health Equity’s Kenneth T. Jones, PhD (pictured
above) is a member of the current and inaugural class of the LHE Fellow. As a part of his professional development experience in the fellowship, Dr. Jones is focusing on the development
of a data visualization tool and maps that overlay Veteran clinical quality measures
and community markers of social determinants of health at various geographic levels in
order to 1) increase understanding of social determinants on Veteran health outcomes and 2) increase efforts to improve Veteran care.
Robert
Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholars Program
Applications for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Clinical Scholars Program
will open in January 2018. The program provides funding and leadership training
to clinically active providers to help leverage their ideas to improve health
outcomes in communities across the country (http://clinical-scholars.org). Providers
working in collaboration with veterans, their families, and local organizations
are encouraged to apply.
The Clinical Scholars program provides funding and
leadership training to clinically active providers with experience in providing
healthcare services to children, adults, and families. Preferred applicants are
engaged in their community and motivated to leverage their passion and
ideas to improve health beyond the clinical setting. Fellows identify
complex health equity issues further challenged by social, political, and
environmental factors and propose novel interdisciplinary approaches to improve
health beyond the clinical setting. Potential fellows apply in
multidisciplinary clinical teams (> 2) and may represent the range of
health affair professions: dentistry, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, physical
therapy, social work, and/or veterinary medicine. The currently funded 2016
team projects are focused on a range of complex health issues: oral
health, mental health and opioid abuse, behavioral
health, immigrant health, community violence, and the foster
care system (http://clinicalscholarsnli.org).
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