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Amanda Jekowsky , American College of
Cardiology, 202-375-6645, ajekowsk@acc.org
August
7th, 2008
ALLIANCE BETWEEN LEADERS IN HEALTH
AND MEDICINE TO ADDRESS HEALTHCARE DISPARITIES THROUGH EDUCATIONAL
INITIATIVE
Partners share common goal of enhancing patient care and
outcomes through development of curriculum designed to increase
awareness, knowledge, and sensitivity to racial, ethnic and
gender issues among healthcare providers
Jersey City, NJ, Washington, D.C., Boston, MA, August 7th,
2008: – In an effort to help reduce racial,
ethnic and gender disparities in healthcare, leading professional
organizations and academic medical institutions have joined
forces in a unique collaborative alliance with the goal of
creating a comprehensive educational initiative that aims
to improve the quality of care and outcomes for traditionally
underserved minority populations.
The collaboration between The American College of Cardiology,
the Association of Black Cardiologists, the National Kidney
Foundation, Joslin Diabetes Center, The Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine, and The Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing
will focus on cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and
chronic kidney disease (CKD) - conditions with consistently
higher rates of morbidity and mortality among ethnic patients.
The initiative will additionally examine multiple aspects
of patient care including effectiveness of healthcare quality,
patient safety, timeliness of and access to healthcare services
and patient centeredness.
“The spectrum of clinical implications between hypertension,
obesity, diabetes and chronic kidney disease has long been
recognized by clinicians, but in recent years they have become
a clear focus of considerable preventive and therapeutic attention,”
according to Keith C. Ferdinand, MD, FACC, Clinical Professor,
Emory University and Chief Science Officer, Association of
Black Cardiologists. “With this important clinical challenge
facing us, however, ethnic disparities limit our ability to
provide optimal care.”
“Despite extensive documentation of inequities in healthcare
quality, little has been done to improve the delivery of services
to ethnic populations,” states Jack Lewin, MD, CEO,
American College of Cardiology. “The resources and technology
necessary to address disparities in health care exist today.
If we can harness these tools and provide training in using
them to physicians and their care teams, we will go a long
way toward providing evidence-based quality care to all patients
regardless of ethnicity."
For example, statistics show that:
- Healthcare providers are 40 percent less likely to order
sophisticated cardiac tests for African Americans with chest
pain than for Caucasians with identical symptoms.
- African Americans, Native Americans, Hispanics and American
Asians are, respectively, 4.5, 3.6, 2 and 1.6 times more
likely to develop chronic kidney disease than are Caucasians,
and ethnic patients have a rate of end-stage renal disease
that is 2 to 4 times higher than Caucasians.
- Among patients diagnosed with diabetes, African-American
patients are less likely (43.6 percent) than white patients
(50.4 percent) to receive an eye exam, an established standard
for diabetes care.
“As stakeholders in providing quality care to patients,
we need to act aggressively to ensure that we address healthcare
disparities among our patient populations,” states Enrique
Caballero M.D., Director of the Latino Diabetes Initiative,
Joslin Diabetes Center. “Effective education and training
for clinicians is the first step toward change.”
“This is an exciting opportunity to combine the expertise
of our nation’s leading medical societies, associations
and academic medical centers to provide the highest degree
of educational value to an underserved and under recognized
area of healthcare,” says Joseph Vassalotti, M.D., Chief
Medical Officer, National Kidney Foundation.
Evidence shows that as patient populations grow and become
more diverse, lack of cultural competence among providers
will lead to an increasing gap in racial and ethnic disparities
within the healthcare system. “This initiative will
utilize several measures to assess the impact it will have
on minimizing healthcare disparities," said Todd Dorman,
M.D., FCCM, Associate Dean and Director, Johns Hopkins CME.
He outlined them in the following manner;
- Provider Measures
• Did the initiative improve the provider’s
knowledge/awareness
• Did the initiative change the provider’s behavior
in relation to the process of care
- Patient Measures
• Did the initiative result in better patient care
and outcomes related to cardiovascular disease, obesity,
diabetes and CKD
• Did the initiative improve the health status of
patients through specific measures such as healthcare quality,
timeliness of healthcare services, and patient centeredness
- Healthcare Services and Utilization
• Did the initiative have an impact on patient safety
and/or error reduction
• Did the initiative have an impact on diagnostic
accuracy, appropriate therapy, and minimization of hospitalization
rates
The curriculum-based, multi-year initiative aims to provide
a series of educational interventions in multiple formats
to various healthcare providers ranging from primary care
and cardiovascular physicians to other specialists such as
endocrinologists/diabetologists and nephrologists, as well
as nurses, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, physician assistants,
and dietitians.
A performance improvement (PI) system will be used in the
curriculum to allow providers to apply quality measurement
to their practices, and use the resulting data to take action
specific to their practice for improved patient care.
Bringing this educational initiative to fruition demands
a collaborative approach by healthcare organizations. “Our
hope is that this initiative will empower healthcare providers
in the U.S. to deliver the highest-quality care to every patient,
regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, culture, or language
proficiency,” said Dr. Dorman.
Gullapalli and Associates, LLC, a leading educational strategy
firm, will facilitate the development and management of the
initiative.
American College of Cardiology (ACC)
The American College of Cardiology is leading the way to optimal
cardiovascular care and disease prevention. The ACC is a 34,000-member
nonprofit medical society and bestows the credential Fellow
of the American College of Cardiology upon physicians who
meet its stringent qualifications. The College is a leader
in the formulation of health policy, standards and guidelines,
and is a staunch supporter of cardiovascular research. The
ACC provides professional education and operates national
registries for the measurement and improvement of quality
care. For more information, visit www.acc.org.
Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC)
The Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. (ABC) is the
nation’s foremost advocate for the prevention and reduction
of disparities in cardiovascular care and outcomes. Since
its establishment in 1974, the ABC’s achievements have
made it an important voice and the foremost advocate for the
prevention and reduction of cardiovascular diseases in African
Americans and other minorities. The ABC continues to promote
its primary mission through education, research, health promotion
and health policy advocacy. The ABC’s diverse membership
consists of over 1,100 physicians, scientists, nurses, students
and community health advocates. For more information, please
call the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc. at 1-800-753-9222
or visit www.abcardio.org.
Joslin Diabetes Center
Joslin Diabetes Center is the world's preeminent diabetes
clinic, diabetes research center and provider of diabetes
education. Joslin is dedicated to ensuring people with diabetes
live long, healthy lives and offers real hope and progress
toward diabetes prevention and a cure for the disease. Founded
in 1898 by Elliott P. Joslin, M.D., Joslin is an independent,
nonprofit institution affiliated with Harvard Medical School.
For more information about Joslin, call 1-800-JOSLIN-1 or
visit http://www.joslin.org.
National Kidney Foundation/Kidney Learning System
(NKF/KLS)
The National Kidney Foundation, Inc., a major voluntary health
organization, seeks to prevent kidney and urinary tract diseases,
improve the health and well-being of individuals and families
affected by these diseases, and increase the availability
of all organs for transplantation. NKF’s KDOQI evidence-based
practice guidelines are the leading resource in the treatment
of chronic kidney disease (CKD). NKF’s KLS develops
and implements comprehensive educational resources for public
health, patients and families and medical professionals across
all disciplines through a wide variety of learning formats,
CME/CE programs, tools and resources. For more information
please visit www.kidney.org.
The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
In July 2008, U.S. News & World Report ranked The Johns
Hopkins Hospital #1 among American hospitals for the 18th
consecutive year. Johns Hopkins remains the nation’s
leading medical school recipient of research funds from the
National Institutes of Health. In 2006, the Johns Hopkins
Office of CME received “Accreditation with Commendation”,
the highest ranking issued by the Accreditation Council for
Continuing Medical Education.
The Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing
The Institute for Johns Hopkins Nursing designs and delivers
leading-edge continuing education for nurses. The Institute
accesses the expertise of faculty and nurses from both the
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and Johns Hopkins
Hospital, including over 2500 highly skilled clinicians in
10 clinical and countless subspecialty areas who are also
world- renowned researchers and educators. For more information
please visit www.ijhn.jhmi.edu
Gullapalli and Associates, LLC
Gullapalli & Associates (G&A) is an educational firm
specializing in the facilitation of collaborative educational
strategies with a variety of CME stakeholders, ensuring consistent
educational strategy, goals and objectives. For more information,
visit www.gullapalliandassoc.com
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The American College of Cardiology is leading the way to optimal
cardiovascular care and disease prevention. The College is
a 36,000-member nonprofit medical society and bestows the
credential Fellow of the American College of Cardiology upon
physicians who meet its stringent qualifications. The College
is a leader in the formulation of health policy, standards
and guidelines, and is a staunch supporter of cardiovascular
research. The ACC provides professional education and operates
national registries for the measurement and improvement of
quality care. More information about the association is available
online at www.acc.org .
The American College of Cardiology (ACC) provides these news
reports of clinical studies published in the Journal of
the American College of Cardiology as a service to physicians,
the media, the public and other interested parties. However,
statements or opinions expressed in these reports reflect
the view of the author(s) and do not represent official policy
of the ACC unless stated so.
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