Health Planning Council of Northeast Florida
Comment on ACA standards to improve data collection, reduce health disparities - URGENT!

Immediate Action Needed!

For over 20 years the Systems of Care community has been wrestling with how to most effectively address disparities in children's mental health. Between now and August 1st you have an important opportunity to lend your voice to this important topic. We need your voice and we need it now.

 

The Affordable Care Act is offering unprecedented opportunity to strengthen federal data collection efforts by requiring that all national federal data collection efforts collect information on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status.

 

The Health and Human Services Department has released new draft standards for collecting and reporting data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status, and announced the administration's plans to begin collecting health data on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) populations. Both efforts aim to help researchers, policy makers, health providers and advocates to identify and address health disparities afflicting these communities.

 

HHS will integrate questions on sexual orientation into national data collection efforts by 2013 and begin a process to collect information on gender identity.  This plan includes the testing of questions on sexual orientation to potentially be incorporated into the National Health Interview Survey.  The department also intends to convene a series of research roundtables with national experts to determine the best way to help the department collect data specific to gender identity.

 

The proposed standards for collection and reporting of data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language and disability status in population health surveys are intended to help federal agencies refine their population health surveys in ways that will help researchers better understand health disparities and zero in on effective strategies for eliminating them.

 

In anticipation of these efforts, HHS, over the past year, has consulted with federal agencies, requested recommendations from the HHS Data Council, and held listening sessions with relevant community stakeholders.

 

Now it is your turn. Here is what you can do now:

 

1. Read the supporting documents - you can download the supporting documents here - We have combined the two documents into one pdf file. The titles of the documents are Explanation of Data Standards for Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Primary Language, and Disability and Proposed Data Collection Standards for Race, Ethnicity, Primary Language, Sex, and Disability Status Required by Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act.

 

2. Let HHS know what you think - We have drilled down to the specific web page you need to go to to make comment. The public may submit comments for the draft minority data collection standards at www.regulations.gov under docket number HHS-OMH-2011-0013.  Public comments will be accepted until August 1. Be sure to include a focus on behavioral health issues and data collection (mental health, substance use) in your comments.  The more comments from our constituency the better!


Read the full text of information on the Alumni Network website here