Measuring Health Equity: A State Measure Set to Assess and Improve Equity

By Kanneganti D , Mar J , and Bailit M

On June 15, 2023

The State Health Equity Measure Set provides a standard set of health equity measures that states can use to assess their performance against other states, and inform interventions that strive to improve equity in healthcare access and outcomes within their state.

The Issue

State and federal agencies have begun to identify disparities to inform policies and activities to reduce them. However, there is no standard set of health equity measures or central source of state-specific health equity performance data.

Key Findings

  • The State Health Equity Measure Set introduces a curated set of existing measures in areas where consumers experience disparate outcomes. All measures have been tested and are in use by national measurement bodies.
  • States can assess how their performance on the measures varies by race and ethnicity and compare it to the performance of other states. The State Health Equity Measure Set includes 10 population-level measures, which gauge health status, and 19 healthcare measures, which evaluate receipt of, and outcomes associated with, evidence-based health services.

Conclusion

The State Health Equity Measure Set provides states with the resources to inform policies and program interventions that are focused on reducing disparities in healthcare access, care delivery, and health outcomes for people of color.

About This Study

The measures for the State Health Equity Measure Set were selected using established criteria and measure topics with evidence of disparities in performance by race and ethnicity. Feedback was solicited from an advisory group of state agency representatives and health equity measurement experts before finalizing the measures. The companion issue brief, Measuring Health Equity: A State Measure Set to Assess and Improve Equity, outlines state considerations when adopting the State Health Equity Measure Set, including ways to address factors that lead to under- and overrepresentation of people of color in national and federal data sets, and describes key steps for how to operationalize the Measure Set.

About SHVS/the Author

State Health and Value Strategies (SHVS) assists states in their efforts to transform health and healthcare by providing targeted technical assistance to state officials and agencies. The program is a grantee of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, led by staff at Princeton University’s School of Public and International Affairs. The program connects states with experts and peers to undertake healthcare transformation initiatives. By engaging state officials, the program provides lessons learned, highlights successful strategies and brings together states with experts in the field. Learn more at www.shvs.org.

This issue brief was prepared by Deepti Kanneganti, Jessica Mar, and Michael Bailit. Bailit Health is a health policy consulting firm dedicated to ensuring insurer and provider performance accountability on behalf of public agencies and private purchasers. Learn more at www.bailit-health.com.

This piece was republished from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

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