A subcommittee of experts will report to the IOM Committee on Future Directions for the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports regarding the lack of standardization of collection of race and ethnicity data at the federal, state, local, and private sector levels due to the fact that the federal government has yet to issue comprehensive, definitive guidelines for the collection and disclosure of race and ethnicity data in healthcare quality improvement. The subcommittee will focus on defining a standard set of race/ethnicity and language categories and methods for obtaining this information to serve as a standard for those entities wishing to assess and report on quality of care across these categories. The subcommittee will carry out an appropriate level of detailed, in-depth analysis and description which can be included in the overall report by the committee and as a separate stand alone report.

More information on the Committee on Future Directions for the National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Reports is available here.