Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Closing the Health Equity Gap

More than 20 hospitals came together with community organizations in the Cincinnati area to provide better, more equitable care and close gaps in care disparities. The “Cincinnati Expecting Success” project, facilitated by the Greater Cincinnati Health Council, focused on collecting race, ethnicity and primary language (REAL) data from all patients and standardizing data collection methods across participating hospitals. Hospitals followed the Office of Management and Budget categories and used self-reporting by patients to ensure accurate data. By working together, the hospitals coordinated their efforts getting the information and using it. Community organizations proved to be valuable partners as they endorsed the hospitals’ work and helped alleviate patient concerns about data collection. Participating hospitals are using the REAL data to stratify quality measures, so they can identify areas of challenge and target interventions.

The Equity of Care website highlights this project in the video “Race, Ethnicity, Language: Pathway to Better Patient Care.” Separate chapters of the video are featured on the website as well as the complete video. Equity of Care is a national call to action led by the AHA and four partner organizations to eliminate health care disparities and improve quality of care.

HPOE.org features case studies, webinars and guides from AHA resources and other groups.