Reaching for a more equitable healthcare experience

If you’re looking for a way to get a better handle on your healthcare – and help Cape Cod Healthcare improve your care experience – you’re going to want to update your demographic information in your Cape Cod Healthcare medical chart.

Beginning in January 2024, all Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) patients will be asked to fill out a series of questions designed to update the system and its providers on things like your race, ethnicity, preferred language, disabilities, sexual orientation and gender identity. The dozen or so questions are a part of a new strategic goal to improve health equity and be a provider of choice in delivering equitable, high-quality care. In pursuit of this goal, CCHC is seeking to better understand the diverse patient population and where there may be gaps in care.

To support this goal, patients will be asked questions about their background and language. Gathering this information helps CCHC understand not only your unique health needs, but also helps identify how to improve the health and wellbeing of all in the community through additional services and programs.

Beginning in the new year, all patients who are 18 years and older have an opportunity to provide information about their:

• Race and ethnicity
• Language
• Disability status
• Sexual orientation
• Gender identity

All answers are confidential and you can answer them or decline to answer, according to Kumara Sidhartha, MD, MPH, chief health equity and wellness officer for Cape Cod Healthcare.

Some of the questions have been on the patient intake forms for some time, such as your race, ethnicity, preferred language, and whether you need accommodations at your appointment for a disability. In January, the intake form will ask for the first time about your sexual orientation and gender identity.

Access, Experience, Outcome

The main thrust of the new questionnaire is to make sure Cape Cod Healthcare providers are providing fair and equitable care, so that everyone, equally, has the opportunity to improve their health, said Dr. Sidhartha.

“We need to know if we are making a difference in patients’ experience, access and outcome in a way that is fair and equitable,” he said. “How are they getting through our doors? How is their experience when they are here? And what is their (health) outcome? Are they feeling better? That’s our goal.”

Patients can answer the questionnaire in several ways:

• Online via your MyChart patient portal (Account Settings/Personal Information)
• When completing your MyChart eCheck-In for an upcoming appointment
• In person in a safe, private space when you arrive at Cape Cod Hospital, Falmouth Hospital, a health center or doctor’s office.

Understanding Gaps in Care

CCHC will be examining the data over time “so that we can continuously learn and improve,” Dr. Sidhartha said. The organization is hoping to learn if there is a difference in the patient access, experience and outcome, and, if so, whether there is some internal unconscious bias or obstacles to care for certain patients, based on their demographic characteristics, he added.

“We need to know where the difference lies and who’s not getting that desired outcome. And, whether there is a particular pattern to it that shows that a particular segment of patients are getting inequitable care,” he said.

The demographics on Cape Cod have changed over the 20 years since he first arrived, Dr. Sidhartha said. The best way to understand the community’s diversity is by looking at the medical record data, he added, which is why it’s so important for patients to fill out the questionnaire.

“We cannot improve what we cannot measure,” Dr. Sidhartha said. “We measure the things we care about, and we care about fair and equitable care.”

Using the Data

The information helps give CCHC a complete picture of our patient population. For instance, asking for preferred pronouns helps staff correctly address patients, avoid making assumptions and respect everyone’s gender identity. Asking for the sex you were assigned at birth helps staff understand which organs might be present in your body to follow preventive care and cancer screenings pertaining to that organ. This information, combined with sexual orientation and gender identity, helps create a care plan that is inclusive, person-centered, and tailored to best fit your needs.

There is no deadline for completion of this information in your chart, and, again, it is entirely voluntary.

“But the sooner we get an accurate picture of data, the sooner we can identify where we fall short as an organization in providing equitable care,” Dr. Sidhartha said. “In order for us to know that fair care is being delivered, we will continually measure ourselves on that. Having accurate data on demographics is going to help us to discover any differences in patient care that are unwarranted and inequitable, and to address them.”