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Request for Applications
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One of the primary goals of the Disparities Solutions Center is to provide education and leadership training to develop a national network of skilled individuals dedicated to eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Through the Disparities Leadership Program we hope to move this from a goal to a reality.
----Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH
Director, The Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital |
Please visit our DLP alumni page, for more information on past participants, including a list of our current class.
Download Forms:
We encourage interested parties to submit an Intent to Apply form prior to submitting a complete application.
| Friday, November 18, 2011 |
Intent to Apply Due (recommended but not required) |
| Friday, February 24, 2012 |
DLP Application due |
| Friday, March 30, 2012 |
DLP applicants are notified |
| Friday, April 13, 2012 |
Deadline for applicants to confirm acceptance into the program |
| Friday, May 11, 2012 |
Tuition is due |
| Thurs & Fri, May 17-18, 2012 |
Two day opening meeting in Boston, MA, at Le Meridien in Cambridge (www.hotelatmit.com) |
| February, 2013 |
Two day meeting – date and specific West Coast location to be determined |
The Institute of Medicine Reports Crossing the Quality Chasm and Unequal Treatment highlight the critical nexus between improving quality and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Combined, they provide a blueprint for addressing disparities that can only be achieved if a concerted, coordinated effort towards health systems change can be achieved. This will require leaders in quality improvement who have the tools and skills to move their organizations forward toward the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in care.
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The Disparities Leadership Program (DLP) is a year‐long executive education program designed for leaders from hospitals, health plans and other health care organizations who want a) develop a strategic plan or b) advance a project to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care, particularly through quality improvement. The DLP has three overarching goals:
- To create a cadre of leaders in health care equipped with a) in‐depth knowledge of the field of disparities, including root causes and research to date; b) cutting‐edge quality improvement strategies for identifying and addressing disparities; and c) the leadership skills to implement these strategies and help transform their organizations.
- To help individuals from organizations—who may be at the beginning stages or in the middle of developing or implementing a strategic plan or project to address disparities—further advance or improve their work in a customized, tailored fashion.
- To assist healthcare organizations so that they can be prepared to meet new standards and regulations from the Joint Commission, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (health care reform).
The DLP faculty will consist of a team of leaders from The Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) at Massachusetts General Hospital as well as from health plans and health centers across the nation. These leaders are action‐oriented and have practical experience implementing organizational and quality improvement strategies aimed at eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in health care. It focuses on the lessons. It focuses on the lessons learned and expertise gained from the development and evolution of programs currently in place at the Massachusetts General Hospital, as well as at several leading health plans and health centers throughout the country.
One of the primary goals of the Disparities Solutions Center is to provide education and leadership training to develop a national network of skilled individuals dedicated to eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in health care. Through the Disparities Leadership Program we hope to move this from a goal to a reality.
--Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH
Director, The Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital
How is the DLP organized?
The DLP has four major activities:
Formal Skills Curriculum
The DLP begins with a two-day intensive training session focused on defining disparities and root causes; developing cutting-edge quality improvement strategies to identify and address disparities; and fostering leadership skills to implement these strategies and help transform their organizations. Faculty includes national experts at the DSC, leadership from the MGH, and leadership from several health plans and community health centers across the country who are at the cutting-edge of the disparities field. Some of the topics covered during the training include:
- Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care: Background on the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in health care, including a review of root causes and strategies to address them
- Getting Disparities on the Leadership Agenda: Encouraging leaders in the organization to become invested in identifying and addressing racial/ethnic disparities in health care, including the presentation of the business and quality case for addressing this issue
- Where to Begin: Tools and activities to help organizations get started with efforts to identify and address disparities, including the strategies, techniques and technology for collecting race and ethnicity data
- Analyzing and Comparing Your Race and Ethnicity Data: How to compile data in a meaningful and effective way, and create comparative benchmarks
- Creating Disparities Measures and Reporting Mechanisms: Guidance on how to stratify quality measures by race and ethnicity, and report them appropriately via dashboards, scorecards, or other standard or innovative mechanisms
- Adding the Community, Patient, and Staff Voice to the Disparities Agenda: Strategies for bringing in key perspectives to disparities and patient safety work, including those of the community, the patient, and the health care staff
- Developing Disparities Interventions: Developing and implementing innovative approaches to address disparities organizationally and through quality improvement
- Disparities and Health Information Technology: Planning for the current and future use of health information technology as a mechanism for identifying and addressing disparities
- Identifying and Preventing Medical Errors in Limited-English Proficient Patients: Strategies to identify clinical situations that are high-risk for medical errors among limited-English proficient patients, as well as mechanisms to address them
- Making Systems Responsive to the Needs of Diverse Populations: Review of tools to improve the cultural competency of the health care delivery system and capacity to address the needs of patients with limited English proficiency
- Communicating Broadly and Clearly: Developing an approach to communicating the issue of disparities both internally and externally
- Organizational Transformation and Assuring Sustainability: How to assure pilot programs become standard practice within the organization and how to disseminate successes broadly
Disparities Strategic Plan/Project
The DLP is seeking to stimulate and promote the development of strategic plans or the advancement of a component of a project designed specifically to improve quality, eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care, and achieve equity within health care organizations. As a condition of entry, participants in the DLP must either:
A. Develop a strategic plan to address disparities over the course of a year. They should use learnings from the DLP to develop a blue print to address disparities in the near future. This can be a more simple, basic, conceptual strategic plan (approximately 10 pages), or a more detailed, traditional strategic plan.
B. Or advance a component of a project that addresses disparities. By advance a component of a project, we mean moving one step forward on a project that is already underway, or taking the first step on a new project. We understand it is difficult to complete an entire project over the course of one year. Examples of the types of projects considered include:
- Implementing a system to collect patient's race/ethnicity and language data
- Stratifying and reporting quality data by race/ethnicity
- Developing a culturally competent disease management program
- Evaluating a disparities intervention
- Expanding disparities interventions across conditions and populations
In either case, applicants must propose the ways in which they would like to advance this work over the course of the year through participation in the DLP. Again, participants can be in various stages of development in their program, ranging from developing a strategic plan to evaluating disparities interventions.
Technical Assistance
The DSC will work with DLP participants to achieve their disparities project goals through various modalities of technical assistance, including three interactive web‐based conference calls for the entire group, and two interactive web seminars on additional learning topics tailored to the most pressing needs of participants. In addition, participants will receive assistance through one‐on‐one calls with faculty. Participants will also be invited to participate in other DSC activities on an on‐going basis (such as teleconferences on current disparities issues, additional web seminars, etc.) as part of the DLP network.
Closing Session, Group Learning and Dissemination
The DLP continues with a two‐day closing meeting where participants will present their work and lessons learned and individual strategic plans or projects. They will also have the opportunity to network with and learn from like‐minded peers at  this time and over the course of the year. DLP participants will receive continuing education credits, as well as a certificate for completing the program. All DLP projects will be highlighted on the DSC website. Some may be featured in web seminars and case studies published and distributed by the DSC. Several projects will be chosen to receive an award for innovation and success and will be featured in press releases about the DLP. A selection of projects may have the opportunity to present their work at national meetings on quality including Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s National Forum on Quality Improvement in Health Care.
What are the Learning Objectives of the Disparities Leadership Program?
At the conclusion of this program, the learner will be able to:
- Identify ways to secure buy-in by having health care leaders better understand the issues of disparities and become invested in doing something to address them.
- List techniques and technology for race and ethnicity data collection and disparities performance measurement.
- Identify interventions to reduce disparities in health care.
- Identify ways to message the issue of disparities both internally and externally.
- Describe a concrete step that their organization will take toward the elimination of racial/ethnic disparities in care.
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My expectation was that this would be ground-breaking! It exceeded my thoughts...such a powerful personal experience shared with like minds/hearts driven by social equity for health connections. Much learning, many things affirmed, many things to do...I feel prepared to make change, initiate movement. Thank you for the gift!
--Participant, The Disparities Leadership Program, Class of 2008 |
The DLP is designed for leaders from hospitals, health plans, physician organizations, community health centers, and other health care organizations who want to implement strategies to improve quality, eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care, and achieve equity. Participants may include, but are not limited to: executive leadership, medical directors, directors of quality, and directors of multicultural affairs or community benefits. To maximize the benefits of the year‐long DLP, participants should have strong commitment from their organization, as well as resources available, to advance an action plan to address disparities. Teams of two participants per organization are encouraged, though not required.
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- The Institute of Medicine's landmark report Crossing the Quality Chasm highlighted equity as one of the essential pillars of health care quality. For an organization to improve quality for all patients it must be able to measure disparities by race/ethnicity and develop interventions to address them.
- The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the Joint Commission made bold moves to incorporate issues of disparities and cultural and linguistic competency into their standards for hospitals and health plans. The DLP will help health care leaders put their organizations ahead of the curve on this important emerging issue.
- Eliminating disparities in health care requires leadership, vision, teamwork, and an understanding of the issues and potential intervention strategies. The DLP is designed to build participants' knowledge and skills in these essential areas while developing a network of leaders focused on the same goals.
- Between now and the year 2050, racial/ethnic minorities will account for 90% of the projected increase in the U.S. population. Thus, most new growth in the health care market will come from minorities. Addressing racial/ethnic disparities in care will help health care organizations gain a competitive edge in a changing market.
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While we anticipate being able to accommodate most applicants to the DLP, we are limiting the program in order to maintain an effective learner to faculty ratio. In order to ensure the success of the program we will review applications based on the following criteria:
- Level of organizational commitment to the applicants' efforts as measured by
- Letter of support signed by a member of senior leadership or board of the applicant’s organization authorizing release time to commit to the DLP and support for tuition and travel expenses (templates will be provided)
- Resources available (time and financial) to start or advance the applicants' efforts
- Commitment and ability of applicant/team to address racial and ethnic disparities at their organizations as described in the short essay responses
- Professional position and capacity of the applicant/team to move their organizations forward towards identifying and eliminating racial and ethnic disparities
Note: Preference will be given to organizations that can send at least a two‐person team (individuals are still encouraged to apply).
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The experience we gained and the insights the DSC staff and the DLP program participants provided were invaluable not only for the development of our program but also to allow a broader understanding of disparities in healthcare amongst a wide variety of organizations. This knowledge gleaned from participating in the DLP would otherwise be extraordinarily difficult if not impossible to attain. We are confident that the knowledge we accrued will bear much fruit in future years.
---- Participant, The Disparities Leadership Program, Class 2010-2011
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Disparities Solutions Center Faculty:
Joseph R. Betancourt, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Disparities Solutions Center, Senior Scientist at the Institute for Health Policy, and Director of Multicultural Education at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). He is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and a practicing internist at MGH. He has served on several Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committees, including those that produced “Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health Care”, “Guidance for a National Health Care Disparities Report”, and “In the Nation’s Compelling Interest: Ensuring Diversity in the Health Care Workforce.” He served on the Boston Public Health Commission's Disparities Committee, the Massachusetts State Disparities Committee, and now co‐chair’s MGH’s Disparities Committee and is on the Massachusetts State Disparities Council.
Alexander R. Green, MD, MPH, is the Associate Director of the Disparities Solutions Center and Senior Scientist at the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital. He is also Assistant Professor and Chair of the Cross‐Cultural Care Committee at Harvard Medical School. His work focuses on programs designed to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in care, including the use of culturally competent quality improvement interventions, leadership development, and dissemination strategies. He has studied the role of unconscious biases and their impact on clinical decision‐making, language barriers and patient satisfaction, and innovative approaches to cross‐cultural medical education. He has also served on several national panels on disparities and cultural competency including the Joint Commission's "Hospitals, Language, and Culture" project.
Roderick R. King, MD, MPH, is currently Senior Faculty at the Disparities Solutions Center and an Instructor in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. King’s work focuses on leadership & workforce development, and improving health systems performance as they relate to addressing health disparities and improving the health of underserved populations. In addition, Dr. King was recently selected as one of two Inaugural Institute of Medicine Anniversary Fellows, where he serves on the Board on Global Health, which oversees the study, “The US Commitment to Global Health”. In addition, he also serves on the Board on Population Health and Public Practices which oversees the IOM “Roundtable for Racial and Ethnic Disparities.” He most recently served as the Director for the Health Resources and Services Administration, Boston Regional Division and as a Commander in the US Public Health Service, U.S. Department of HHS.
Alden M. Landry, MD, MPH is Senior Faculty at the Disparities Solutions Center, and Associate Director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Faculty Assistant Director of the Office of Diversity Inclusion and Community Partnership at Harvard Medical School. He received his BS from Prairie View A&M University in 2002, MD from the University of Alabama in 2006 and completed his residency in Emergency Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2009. In 2010, he earned an MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed the Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy in 2010 as well. In addition to his clinical interests, Dr. Landry is involved in research on emergency department utilization trends, disparities in care and quality of care. He works with numerous organizations to eliminate health disparities and increase diversity in the health care workforce. Dr Landry mentors students from high school to medical school encouraging careers in the health professions.
Lenny Lopez, MD, MDiv, MPH, is currently Senior Faculty at the Disparities Solutions Center. Dr. Lopez received his BA in Religion and an M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He also received a Master of Divinity and a Master of Public Health from Harvard University. He completed his Internal Medicine residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. After residency, he completed a Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in minority health policy and is focusing his research on cardiovascular health in Latinos and hospital patient safety. He was a General Medicine research fellow at Harvard, a Aetna/DSC Healthcare Disparities Fellow at the DSC, and is an Associate Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Below is the list of additional faculty:
Peter Slavin, MD, President of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)
Allison Rimm, MS, Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Information Management, MGH
Gregg Meyer, MD, Senior Vice President for Quality and Patient Safety, MGH
Elizabeth Mort, MD, MPH, Associate Chief Medical Officer, Vice President of MGH
Thomas Sequist, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy,
Brigham Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Wayne Rawlins, MD, MBA, National Medical Director, Aetna Inc.
Jim Walton, MD, Chief Health Equity Officer, Baylor Healthcare System
Rhonda Moore Johnson, MD, MPH, Medical Director and Chief Health Equity Officer, Highmark, Inc.
Daniel Driscoll, MRP, CEO/President, Harbor Health Services
Zoila Torres Feldman, Vice President for Care Delivery System, Commonwealth Care Alliance
Nancy Connery, MS, Director of Admitting and Registration Services at MGH
Kathy Campbell, Senior Product Manager, Consumer Directed Health Plans at Aetna, Inc.
Hugo Alvarez, MD, Deputy Medical Officer, UM/QI Associate Medical Director, ACCESS Community Health Network
Claire Spettell, Msc, Director of Information Services, Aetna, Inc.
Katherine Flaherty, ScD, Principle Associate, Public Health & Epidemiology, Abt Associates, Inc.
Robert Hoch, MD, Director, Information Systems, Harbor Health Services
Heidi Behforouz, MD, Director of Prevention and Access to Care and Treatment (PACT), Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Cy Hopkins, MD, Director, Office of Quality and Patient Safety at MGH
Jamie Silva‐Steele, RN, BSN, MBA, Administrator of Ambulatory Services, University of New Mexico Hospitals
Karen Donelan, PhD, Senior Scientist, Institute for Health Policy, MGH
Lourdes Sanchez, MS, Consultant
Gwen Cochran Hadden, Senior Diversity and Cultural Competency Consultant, Boston Medical Center
Vanessa McClinchy, M. Ed, Consultant
Lee Chelminiak, Vice President of Public Affairs, Partners HealthCare
Suzanne Kim, Senior Public Affairs Officer at MGH
Joan Quinlan, MPA, Director of Center for Community Health Improvement at MGH
Terri Amano, Culturally Competent Services, WellPoint Inc./HMS
Michele Toscano, MS, Head, Office of the Chief Medical Officer Business Management, Planning and Reporting, and Program Manager, the Racial and Ethnic Equality Initiative Aetna, Inc.
Ellen Hafer, MBA, MTS, Executive Vice President and COO, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Inc.
Cheryl McMahill‐Walraven, MSW, Informatics Manager, Aetna, Inc.
Tonya Strader, Hospital Specialist, Gateway Health Plan
Valerie Ward, MD, MPH, Co‐Chair Diversity and Cross‐Cultural Care Committee, Children’s Hospital Boston
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Tuition is due upon acceptance into the Disparities Leadership Program, and is $9,500 per person per organization. After organizations are notified of their acceptance into the program, the tuition is due on May 11, 2012. This covers all program activities (two two‐day training sessions—one in Boston, MA, the other location on the West Coast; conference calls, web seminars, and program materials) as well 2 night hotel stays and meals at the opening and closing session. Participants are responsible for all ground and airfare travel costs to and from the sessions.
Cancellations or withdrawals
Please submit any cancellation or withdrawal in writing. Cancellation notices received after April 13, 2012 but before May 11, 2012, will be charged a 25% processing fee. Cancellations made after May 11, 2012, will not be refunded their tuition.
Partial scholarships may be available for individuals and teams. If you are applying for a scholarship, please include a separate letter of request with your completed application. Please indicate the specific amount of tuition assistance requested for your organization, and explain your need for financial assistance.
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This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and Massachusetts General Hospital. NCQA is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.
This activity has been approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™.
NCQA is accredited as a provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.
Continuing nursing education contact hours will be provided to participants.
To successfully complete this activity and receive CME or CNE credit, you must: sign the participant roster, remain for the entire program, and complete and submit a program evaluation.
A certificate of completion specifying applicable credits will be available for each participant after the program.
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This program is jointly sponsored by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA). It is supported by Joint Commission Resources (JCR), an affiliate of The Joint Commission. This program is supported in part by an unrestricted educational grant from Amgen Foundation.
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The Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) considers all applicants and program participants without regard to race, color, national origin, age, religious creed, sex or sexual orientation. MGH is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We encourage participation by all individuals. If you need any of the auxiliary aids or services identified in the Americans with Disabilities Act, please describe your particular needs in writing and include it with this application.
Aswita Tan-McGrory, MBA, MSPH
Deputy Director of The Disparities Solutions Center
Massachusetts General Hospital
50 Staniford Street, 9th Floor, Suite 901
Boston, MA 02114
Email: atanmcgrory@partners.org
Phone: (617) 643-2916
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