IHI releases white paper on advancing health equity

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement released a paper detailing a four-step measurement approach to identify and quantify health disparities to advance health equity. The white paper explains why standardizing health equity measurement is necessary for accountability, noting measurement is a core challenge in addressing health care inequities. IHI’s steps are to identify and prioritize a health-equity initiative focus area, population of focus and metrics; determine stratification attributes and compute metrics for all attribute values; choose reference points; and quantify and characterize health disparities. The paper provides examples of how to apply the four-step measurement approach in a range of health care settings. Health systems can use the guidance to understand where inequities exist, understand their significance and determine how to make meaningful and sustainable improvement.