Feds to focus on health inequities among minority, rural and poor seniors

Federal regulators announced a new plan Tuesday to make health care for minority and poor senior citizens more equitable, a challenge that persists 30 years after the Department of Health and Human Services issued a powerful report on the problem.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released its first plan to address health equity in the mammoth Medicare program. The "equity plan" focuses on six priority areas, including increasing the ability of health care workers to meet the needs of vulnerable populations.

The agency set a goal of reducing health disparities in four years.

“Making sure care is equitable is often the forgotten core area of focus for ensuring that the health system is meeting patient needs and delivering high quality care," said Cara James, director of the CMS Office of Minority Health.

Medicare turns 50 but Americans still have a lot to learn

The plan was released at a government conference marking the 50th anniversaries of the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

In 1985, HHS Secretary Margaret Heckler released the findings of her task force on black and minority health, which set goals for reducing the disparities, which she called "an affront both to our ideals and to the ongoing genius of American medicine."

Any progress since then has left many behind.

The death rate for senior citizens in Detroit, which is more than 80% black, is 48% higher than the rest of the state. About 15% of Michigan residents are black. Detroit seniors also have hospitalization rates that are 43% higher than elsewhere in the state. And they average more than three chronic conditions, compared to an average of two for the rest of the country, according to data compiled by the Detroit Medical Center.

The new CMS plan focuses on Medicare recipients that experience disproportionately high incidences of disease, lower quality of care, and barriers accessing care. CMS said these include racial and ethnic minorities, sexual and gender minorities, people with disabilities, and those living in rural areas.

Other priorities include improving communication with people who don't speak much English or are disabled and improving physical assess to health care facilities.