I remember learning about my career in hospital administration when I was in graduate school. When we got to the chapter on regulatory agencies, I would equate the joint commission on accreditation of health care organizations (JACHO or TJC) as “The Hospital Police.” For those who do not know, The Joint Commission is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public. It is interesting that their 64th sentinel event alert is about addressing health care disparities by improving quality and safety.
“A robust culture of equity depends on staff and providers recognizing that disparities may exist within a patient population and taking responsibility for reducing them,” Robert Woods Johnson Foundation. Translated plainly – our health care facilities need to educate their employees on health equity and be responsible for reducing them, because now it is a patient safety issue. Along with the requirements to meet this standard the Joint Commission sentinel event alert provides best practices recommendations:
- Collect and stratify quality and safety performance data specific to the communities your organization serves and develop communication channels that enable you to listen and learn.
- Analyze stratified data and community feedback to identify health care disparities and opportunities for improvement.
- Commit to achieving diversity and inclusion as an important step toward addressing health care disparities.
- Undertake initiatives to rectify health care disparities by building sustainable business cases.
So, how does this correlate to radiology departments? Look to employ a staff that reflects the racial profile of the community you serve. Look to educate your staff on cultural competencies. Collect clinical data and stratify it by race, gender, ZIP codes, etc. to identify any disparities and/or inequities. Allow me to provide an example by asking questions about your radiology department.
- How many mammograms does your mammography department perform annually?
- What’s the racial profile of your annual volume?
- How many call backs does your mammography department have annually?
- What’s the racial profile of your call backs?
- What is the racial profile of your mammography bi-rad codes?
- Are there any racial disparities in your data?
The answers to these questions could lead you to develop initiatives and/or business plans to address the sentinel event alert. Moreover, it could be the start of increasing diversity in your departments to better serve your community.
Verlon E. Salley, is the vice president of community health equity at UAB Health System.
