IOM: Amplifying the Voice of the Underserved

Submitted on Jun 20, 2013

Dr. Antonia Villarruel co-authors report advocating for greater efforts to inform underserved patients about their health care options as the ACA moves forward.

“Access to care will be greatly expanded through the Affordable Care Act (ACA),” says Antonia M. Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Associate Dean and Professor at the University of Michigan School of Nursing (UMSN).  “We need to ensure that those eligible for coverage have information presented in a mode and format to help them make decisions about their health care – which can be very complex.”

Dr. Villarruel, chair of the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities, co-authored “Amplifying the Voice of the Underserved in the Implementation of the Affordable Care Act.” Co-authors are Winston Wong of Kaiser Permanente, who also serves on the Health Equity roundtable, as well as Kavita Patel of The Brookings Institution and Ruth Parker of Emory University School of Medicine, who serve on the IOM’s Roundtable on Health Literacy.

The discussion paper stresses the importance of patient involvement while also calling for improved communication to communities about the expansion of health care due to the ACA.

The authors suggest several target areas to begin improvements, including:
  • Develop clear, consistent messaging to communities that goes beyond how to obtain health care coverage. It should educate the public about being responsible, informed, and empowered health care consumers.
  • Utilize already-existing community-based organizations to reach consumers and help them understand their options to obtain and use health care insurance.
  • Incorporate the needs of limited and non-English speaking communities as a core principle, not an “add-on.”
  • Develop methods to evaluate the trust and confidence of new health care consumers as one aspect of measuring state and federal performance levels.