The goal is to improve access to healthcare programs and services by retrieving more accurate and comprehensive data. The health system’s demographic data has a rate of up to 20 percent incomplete data. The mission will be to have a rate of less than 5 percent missing data, according to a June 17 news release.
Four things to know:
- One issue the team is hoping to eliminate is reporting a patient’s ethnicity or gender identity based on physical appearance.
- The health system will mail demographic surveys in June and send out digital messages through patient portals in the summer to encourage patients to confirm their demographic information.
- Patients will be asked to share data on their race, ethnic background, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex assigned at birth, pronouns and disability accommodation needs. The data will assist in providing improved accommodations for interpreters, developing new online healthcare tools and increasing assistance for patients who need access to food or medicine.
- “There are very clear inequities between patients based on their race, ethnicity and whether English is their primary language,” said Allison Bryant, MD, senior medical director for health equity at Mass General Brigham. “Without quality data, our decision-making falls flat about how we equitably distribute programs and services.”
