182589 CMS Health Care Disparities Program: Agenda for Change

Wednesday, October 29, 2008: 8:30 AM

Terris King, MS , Office of Clinical Standards and Quality, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD
     
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) acknowledges that racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive a lower quality of healthcare than non-minorities. It is also noted that published research reveals that racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to receive routine medical procedures than Caucasians. The overall disparity in quality of care between racial diverse groups and all other Medicare beneficiaries is a persistent problem.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Medicare programs across the country have a tremendous interest in decreasing disparities in health care. CMS' activities are primarily aimed at supporting states through our Quality Improvement Organization program. Quality Improvement Organizations are focusing their efforts on eliminating racial and ethnic health disparities in clinical areas such as diabetes, chronic kidney disease, mammography, correctoral cancer, influenza, and Pneumonia by using targeted prevention measures to improve clinical outcomes.

CMS has responded to the call for action by mobilizing resources and technical assistance regarding health prevention, safety, case review, and care transitions, by incorporating health disparities promotion programs and data. The health promotion programs and data are aimed to improve health status and health outcomes in underserved populations. These programs are evidence based and have the potential to make a huge impact on racial disparities in communities across the nation.

Learning Objectives:
Describe Public Health efforts, detailed methods, measure specifications and data tables across quality improvement organization key themes. List ways to eliminate health disparities using evidence based practices across care continuum.

Keywords: Chronic Diseases, Aging

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Terris King currently serves as the Deputy Director of the Office of Clinical Standards and Quality, (OCSQ) at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. He is responsible for the development of national coverage policies and quality standards for Medicare and Medicaid providers; quality measurement and public reporting iniatives; and manages the Quality Improvement Organization program. He is the CMS executive lead for value based purchasing. This initiative includes designing and developing quality improvement activities for the Physician Office, Hospital, Home Health, Nursing Home and End Stage Renal Disease Arenas. He is also the lead executive responsible for reducing health disparities throughout the country among underserved populations. Prior to assuming his OCSQ role, he served as the Deputy Associate Commissioner of the Office of Quality Assurance and Performance Assessment. He was responsible for assuring the integrity and quality of the administration of Social Security programs. This function included the definition, design, development, maintenance and evaluation of SSA policies, system abuse, elimination of waste and increased efficiencies. Through subordinate supervisors, he directed an organization of approximately 1,300 employees in several major components located at Headquarters and in Quality Assurance and Performance Assessment Field Offices. Terris has worked in a series of progressively more responsible positions throughout his career. He was selected for the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program in 1998. During his SES development program, Terris served as the Acting Director of the Governor’s Office of Crime Control and Prevention for the State of Maryland. He was appointed to the SES on January 30, 2000. Terris received the Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Award in 2007 for sustained superior performance as a Senior Executive.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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