Here’s a form you can use to develop and implement an effective healthcare equity plan for your lab. The form includes the key objectives required by current equity standards. You then need to supply the details necessary to achieve each objective, including:
- The action steps you’ll take—which should include both short- and long-term measures;
- The resources and people you’ll need to accomplish the objective;
- The metrics you’ll use to measure progress and ultimate achievement of the objective; and
- The timeline by which you hope to achieve the objective—which you can break down into stages.
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ABC Laboratories Health Equity Plan
| Objective | Action Steps | Resources Needed | Metrics | Timeline |
| Designate Health Disparities Officer | ||||
| Use self-reporting methodology to collect demographic data from patient and/or caregiver | ||||
| Verify accuracy and completeness of patient self-reported demographic data | ||||
| Train lab staff in collection of self-reported patient demographic data | ||||
| Use demographic data to screen patients’ health-related social needs | ||||
| Stratify patient safety, quality, and/or outcome measures using demographic data | ||||
| Analyze stratified data to identify disparities by demographic | ||||
| Develop and implement plan to eliminate at least one identified disparity | ||||
| Develop mechanism to measure effectiveness of steps taken to eliminate identified disparity | ||||
| Develop mechanism for follow-up action when steps to eliminate disparity fail | ||||
| Incorporate equity principles into mission and values statements | ||||
| Link quality and equity | ||||
| Get leadership buy-in and commitment to creating culture of equity | ||||
| Empower staff to address equity | ||||
| Tie leadership compensation to equity and disparity reduction goals | ||||
| Use reporting mechanism to communicate outcomes for various patient populations | ||||
| Build working ties with community groups and organizations serving impacted populations | ||||
| Establish mechanism for annual equity plan progress reports |