THE DIFFERENCE A DECADE MAKES We can’t achieve health equity alone. Join us in honoring National Minority Health Month by learning more about 10 highlights from the past decade.

FROM COVERAGE TO CARE CONNECTED CARE HEALTH EQUITY TECHNICAL Health coverage can be overwhelming This initiative provides chronic care ASSISTANCE and confusing. We have resources to management resources and tools to CMS OMH offers coaching and help everyone understand their health help health care professionals, resources for organizations ready coverage so they can live a long and patients, and community members. to take action on health disparities. healthy life. Learn more by contacting us at MORE THAN [email protected]. % RURAL HEALTH AND 65 STRATIFIED REPORTING OF MEDICARE PATIENTS SOCIAL DETERMINANTS To achieve health equity, we need to HAVE TWO OR MORE CHRONIC OF HEALTH measure and report disparities. That’s CONDITIONS.1 Factors outside of the care we why we annually release reports on receive can play a role in our health. Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Disparities FOR EXAMPLE in Health Care in Medicare Advantage RURAL HEALTH STRATEGY Those with inadequate access to food and why we released a report covering Rural Americans are more likely to be rural and urban disparities. or stable housing have a higher risk of unhealthy, uninsured or underinsured, developing chronic conditions.4 and medically underserved.2 CMS APPROXIMATELY developed this strategy to improve CMS addresses social determinants care for rural Americans. of health by tracking them through Z 60 codes and through its Accountable MILLION PEOPLE Health Communities Model. LIVE IN RURAL AREAS ACROSS THE U.S.2 SICKLE CELL DISEASE Few studies have examined health EQUITY PLAN FOR IMPROVING utilization patterns among Medicare QUALITY IN MEDICARE MAPPING MEDICARE patients with sickle cell disease.5 Certain populations experience high DISPARITIES With the hope that it will facilitate burdens of disease, worse quality of 3 Racial and ethnic minorities experience analysis to improve care for patients care, and barriers to accessing care. higher rates of chronic diseases and with sickle cell disease, we added a sickle cell disease indicator to the We developed a plan to provide are more likely to face reduced access an action-oriented, results driven CMS Chronic Conditions Data to care. We developed the MMD Tool approach for advancing health equity. to identify disparities among Medicare Warehouse and released a report on patients. pain management for the disease. MINORITY RESEARCH Revision Date: April 2021. Paid for by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services GRANT PROGRAM CMS OMH offers funding opportunities CITATIONS to researchers at minority serving 1 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health. Connected Care Toolkit: Chronic Care institutions that are exploring how to Management Resources for Health Care Professionals and Communities. https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/ better meet the needs of minority Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/CCM-Toolkit-Updated-Combined-508.pdf. 2 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. CMS Rural Health Strategy. https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/ populations. Through the program, Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/Rural-Strategy-2018.pdf. we hope to develop the capacity to 3 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The CMS Equity Plan for Improving Quality in Medicare. https:// research social determinants of health, www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/OMH_Dwnld-CMS_EquityPlanforMedicare_090615. pdf. understand the root causes of health 4 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. “Accountable Health Communities Model.” https://innovation. disparities, and strengthen CMS programs cms.gov/initiatives/ahcm/. by disseminating best practices 5 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health. “Prevalence of Sickle Cell Disease uncovered through funded research. among Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiaries Age 18-75 Years, in 2016”https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/ Agency-Information/OMH/research-and-data/information-products/data-highlights/prevalence-of-sickle- cell-disease-among-medicare-fee-for-service-beneficiaries-in-2016.

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