MOQC held its January Biannual Meeting virtually on Friday, January 19, 2024. The meeting focused on Centering Equity in Cancer Care and was the most attended biannual meeting in MOQC’s recent history. The meeting was engaging and informative. If you were unable to attend, please visit https://moqc.org/resources/past-meeting-library/ to watch recordings from the day.
The meeting began with updates from POQC on financial navigation, their recruitment and retention workgroup, and their patient and caregiver workgroup. The Steering Committee, the Palliative and End-of-Life Care Task Force, and the Equity Task Force gave updates on their work as well.
Jennifer Griggs, MD, MPH, MOQC Program Director, presented MOQC’s performance on all MOQC measures and shared data from patient-reported outcomes collected across 8 practices in the fall. She also reviewed information about MOQC’s new Excellence in Quality Certification opportunity, which is featured in this newsletter.
Karen Winkfield, MD, PhD provided a captivating keynote presentation titled Closing the Gap in Cancer Care Equity. She opened with an invitation to “Be Intentional” when approaching equity work, to be thoughtful, and to carefully evaluate inclusivity and accessibility in all our actions. Dr. Winkfield shared both historical context for wealth inequality as well as the impact that it continues to have on health today. She ended with a plea to map out the assets and supports in your community so you know where patients can go for help. She called the group to action, to raise awareness of disparities, to take action ourselves, and to advocate for policy changes.
Keli DeVries, LMSW provided an overview of the components of the Equity Action Plan, which will be a requirement of MOQC Excellence in Quality Certification. The Equity Action Plan includes 3 domains–data, education, and practice – all designed to close gaps in equity. Keli provided a template for the plan along with examples for each domain. She also reinforced that MOQC is committed to helping practices create and fulfill their Equity Action Plans.
Andrew Shuman, MD gave an eye-opening and compelling presentation about the state of drug shortages in the US and around the world. Drug shortages are a serious issue that lead to rationing and ethical dilemmas for clinicians treating patients. Federal legislation is needed to change the drug shortage problem that exists, and advocacy is needed at the local, state, and national level. Patient voices matter when it comes to governments making this a priority.
Megan Albertson, MPH closed the meeting with an inspiring and energetic presentation surrounding justice in the healthcare system. She shared data and learnings from the Jackson Care Hub, a web-based network that enables service agencies across Jackson, MI to coordinate care for residents. She ended her talk by asking everyone to consider where we go from here and presented some work that is currently being done at the Jackson Care Hub.