About this Self Paced Training

Leveraging Equity Measures to Identify and Incentivize improvements in Racial Inequities in Care Part II

In September 2021, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) began to publicly share its analyses on racial and ethnic inequities in health care experienced by members, and became the first health plan in the nation to announce it will incorporate equity measures—differences in the quality of care across racial and ethnic groups—into its contracts and payment programs with clinicians who care for Blue Cross members. 

In this session, the presenters will give an overview of the methodological challenges to measurement-based efforts to improve health equity, and will explain how BCBSMA has addressed these challenges. Challenges have included collecting self-reported race and ethnicity data directly; assessing the accuracy of race and ethnicity data available from other sources; imputing missing race and ethnicity data and accounting for their measurement properties for reporting and accountability; and designing a pay-for-equity program that meets high validity and reliability standards.

Join this training and learn about the BCBSMA plan to help bridge the gap of systemic health inequity and racial injustice.

What You Will Learn

At the conclusion of the webinar, learners will be able to:
•    Summarize findings from Blue Cross’ recently released Health Equity Report.
•    Review three tactics health plans can use to engage clinicians, patients and employers in addressing health inequities. 
•    Discuss one method to prepare physicians and hospitals for equity-based financial incentives linked to improvements in racial inequities in care.

Who Should Attend

•    Health care professional
•    Health care decision maker
•    Consultants
•    Health plans
•    Health systems
•    Hospitals
•    Managed behavioral healthcare organizations
•    Population health organizations
•    Wellness organization leverages within federal, states and employers

Faculty

Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP

Mark Friedberg, MD, MPP is Senior Vice President, Performance Measurement & Improvement at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. He is a practicing general internist in primary care & an assistant professor of medicine, part-time, at Brigham & Women’s Hospital & Harvard Medical School. Dr. Friedberg received his B.A. from Swarthmore College, his M.D. from HMS & his M.P.P. from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is responsible for all activities related to measuring and improving the performance of BCBSMA’s provider network, including metrics used in value-based contracts such as our Alternative Quality Contract, and he oversees data analytics related to BCBSMA’s own performance as a health plan.

Deanna Fulp

Deanna Fulp has been a force behind strategic business programs and initiatives that have helped propel Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts into market segments, new technologies and new ways of doing business. Most recently, she served in the company’s Chief Operating Office, Finance, Business Consulting, Corporate Relations, and Supplier groups. In each role, she has been charged with transformative change. Among the “firsts” and other notable achievements of her career are an accelerator program for health technology startups; an innovative Board Governance Program; pioneering technology developments, including iPad and mobile student consumer apps; entry into new market segmentation; and the first formal Supplier Diversity Program. Although she is a change driver and sometimes a disrupter, the hallmark of Deanna’s leadership is delivering value and meeting strategic goals.

Gabriella Silva, PhD

Gabriella Silva, PhD, is a research fellow for the Performance Measurement and Improvement team at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. She previously developed methods for imputing missing race and ethnicity data and worked on methods to estimate causal effects in observational studies. Dr. Silva earned her BA in Economics and Mathematics from Connecticut College and her PhD in Biostatistics from Brown University.

Wei Ying

Wei Ying is Senior Director of Performance Measurement and Population Health Analytics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.  In this role, she leads a team of data scientists and oversees a broad range of health services analyses that focus on clinical quality, equity of care and patient experience.  The focus areas include predictive modeling, population-based analyses, provider practice pattern variation, quality and equity measurement in provider incentive programs, and comparative effectiveness analyses of care management interventions.  Wei graduated from medical school in China, received her master’s degree in Biometry and Statistics from SUNY Albany and her MBA with concentration in Health Care Management from Boston University.

Continuing Education

This Self Paced course grants 1.0 Continuing Education Unit (CEU) points for PCMH Certified Content Experts.  

* Please note – You must attend the entire program to be eligible for total number of contact hours.

Disclosure of Relevant Financial Relationships

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) endorses the Standards of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education which specify that sponsors of continuing medical education activities and presenters at and planners for these activities disclose any relevant financial relationships either party might have with commercial companies whose products or services are discussed in educational presentations.

For sponsors, relevant financial relationships include large research grants, institutional agreements for joint initiatives, substantial gifts, or other relationships that benefit the institution.  For presenters or planning committee members, relevant financial relationships include the receipt of research grants from a commercial company, consultancies, honoraria, travel, or other benefits, or having a self-managed equity interest in a company; or having an immediate family member or partner with such a relationship.

Disclosure of a relationship is not intended to suggest or condone bias in any presentation but is made to provide participants with information that might be of potential importance to their evaluation of a presentation.

Relevant financial relationships exist with the following companies/organizations:

Faculty:
Mark Friedberg: None
Deanna Fulp: None
Gabriella Silva: None
Wei Ying: None

Additional Planning Committee Members:
Cathy Beckner: None

This program was developed in part by NCQA staff.
This program received no commercial support.