In order to adequately address health disparities, it is important to have as much information as possible on where inequities exist and what populations are most impacted. One of the best ways to address disparities is through collection of disaggregated data on race, ethnicity, and language spoken. One of the key aspects of CPEHN’s policy agenda is enhancing the collection and use of this data to develop more detailed and targeted strategies for reducing disparities.
This week, the California Health Report looked at how data collection can be used to reduce disparities experienced by children in the Medi-Cal program. In particular, the story focused on how children’s health advocates are pushing for Medi-Cal to report on more quality measures besides the minimum required:
The federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which regulates the Medi-Cal program, has a list of 24 child health indicators this year. States are required to report on the quality of their low-income health programs, but filing data on the 24 indicators is optional…
California reported on 13 of the indicators in April and expects to report on the same ones when it files next year’s report, which will use 2015 data, said DHCS spokeswoman Carol Sloan.
Advocates argue that California should take the lead in reporting more quality measures because it has the largest Medicaid population in the country.
CPEHN’s Cary Sanders is featured in the story and discusses how reporting on more quality measures in Medi-Cal would help inform efforts to reduce disparities.