Hub hospitals begin gathering racial data

Banner Staff

Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Faulkner Hospital this month began collecting race, ethnicity, preferred language and other socio-economic information from patients, and will report that information to the state Division of Health Care Finance and Policy (DHCFP) and the Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC).

The more detailed data will help providers, insurers and government agencies focus on how to improve patients’ access to care and reduce ethnic and racial disparities in the state health care system, according to a Brigham and Women’s statement.

“Collecting and sharing these data in a format that is consistent from hospital to hospital is imperative to improve access to health care for everyone in Boston and Massachusetts,” said Dr. Gary Gottlieb, president of Brigham and Women’s.

Training is underway for front-line staff who handle patients as they register with the hospitals’ systems in inpatient admissions, emergency department registration and other registration sites or community health centers. Dr. John Ayanian, chair of the steering committee for the disparities project at Brigham and Women’s and Faulkner, emphasized the importance of training staff to collect information “in a manner that is sensitive to … patients’ concerns and privacy.”

“We will assure each of our patients that their names will not be attached to any of the data we report to the city and state,” said Ayanian.

State regulations that went into effect Jan. 1 require all acute care hospitals to collect this information now and begin reporting it by June, as Massachusetts looks to identify differences in patient care and outcome within hospitals. Planned steps to improve the quality of care include initiating interpreter services and cultural competency training for staff, as well as translating patient information materials into different languages.

“This may seem like an added burden, but if we really are committed to reducing disparities in health care — and we are — we need these data to do so,” Gottlieb said.

Boston Medical Center began asking all patients for their race and ethnicity last May, ahead of the city and state regulations, and tailored its computer patient registration system, staff training and printed materials to explain to patients why the hospital is collecting the information.

The effort to educate staff and patients at Brigham and Women’s will include the hospital’s Center for Clinical Excellence, Office for Women, Family and Community Programs, and Department of Marketing and Strategic Planning, who are working together to produce informational brochures that detail the new data collection effort.