5/15/06 - Massachusetts Measures Would Require Hospitals to Collect More Detailed Patient Data

In an effort to help reduce racial and ethnic health care disparities, proposed new regulations would require Massachusetts hospitals to collect more detailed data about patients' race, ethnicity, preferred language and education level, the Boston Globe reports. The proposed measures coincide with recent passage of legislation that requires all state residents to have health insurance by July 1, 2007. Under the new law, hospitals will be eligible for millions of dollars in new Medicaid payments if they can demonstrate they are reducing disparities in care for minorities. In hopes of gaining the funds, Boston-based health organizations and state agencies have developed a number of guidelines and specific measures that aim to improve the reporting of data on patient race or ethnicity and satisfaction. The Boston Public Health Commission has been working with hospitals since 2003 to reduce health disparities. It is poised to approve regulations that will require the city's 10 acute care facilities, and eventually all Boston hospitals and community health programs, to ask patients their race, whether they belong to one of 24 separate ethnic groups, their highest level of education and in what language they prefer to discuss medical issues. Responding to the questions would be voluntary, and hospitals would be required to report the data quarterly and to use the information to identify and analyze inequalities in treatment. Similar regulations also have been proposed by the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy, which will vote on the issue in June and could require data collection as early as October. Keeping ahead of the curve, Boston Medical Center already has redesigned its computerized patient-registration system to allow staff to document patient race and ethnicity more easily. The hospital also has created posters to inform patients about the importance of collecting such data and is using scripted patient conversations to help staff become more comfortable obtaining the information (Kowalcyzk, Boston Globe, 5/15/06 [registration required]).