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CMS BLOG

April 26, 2017

By: Seema Verma, Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

CMS’ Ongoing Commitment to Minority Health

As many of you know, April is National Minority Health Month, and it’s a privilege to be Administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and take part in the observance. This year’s theme is “Bridging Health Equity Across Communities”. At CMS we have an extraordinary opportunity to improve health outcomes for the over 100 million people that we serve every day. Our primary mission is to make healthcare accessible and affordable for all Americans.

During this important month, we continue our efforts to raise awareness about disparities, and provide tools and resources to support actions to address them. In addition to our ongoing work to address these disparities through efforts like the CMS Equity Plan for Improving Quality in Medicare, the CMS Office of Minority Health released new Medicare Advantage (MA) data on racial and ethnic disparities in care. The data helps us understand the connections between a person’s race, ethnicity, and gender and the healthcare that they receive.

Two new reports focus on the treatment and patient care experiences for a variety of conditions. The looks at racial and ethnic disparities by gender and examines differences between black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander and white MA beneficiaries in rates of colorectal cancer screening, treatment for chronic lung disease and other conditions as well as their ability to access needed care.

The looks at racial and ethnic minorities, people with disabilities, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, and rural populations in quality of treatment for certain conditions among MA beneficiaries. It shows that women receive better treatment for chronic lung disease and rheumatoid arthritis and are more likely than men to receive proper follow-up care after being hospitalized for a mental health disorder.

This tremendous research can only point out the problems. We need healthcare professionals, stakeholder organizations, researchers, and community groups to use these CMS reports, along with our other tools and , to develop interventions for racially and ethnically diverse Medicare beneficiaries.

Through transparency, flexibility, and innovation, we will use every available tool to improve the Medicare program and promote the availability of high value and efficiently-provided care for all beneficiaries. We do this, by working together with plans, providers and the patients we serve to find ways to reduce the disparities highlighted in these reports and find effective health solutions that work for all communities and all Americans.

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