Development of a Disability Index

Office of Minority Health  Development of a Disability Index The CMS Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) has released a report entitled Toward the Creation of a Patient-Reported Disability Index that summarizes the development and initial validation of a Disability Index. To download the report, click here: https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/OMH/Downloads/Disability-Index-Report.pdf. The Disability Index would detect the presence and severity of different types of disability, as measured by publically available survey data.  In the future, the Disability Index can be used to assess variability in quality of care and access to care. In addition, the Disability Index may be useful for assessing whether there are differences in disability-related disparities in health care across different population subgroups.  Although we currently have disability indicators for program eligibility, the indicators do not provide information on the individual’s level of difficulty or inability to function.  The creation of a patient reported Disability Index provides this information in a single summary measure. We hope this report will help drive the discussion on Health Disparities and People with Disability.  To learn more about CMS OMH and review additional reports, please visit https://www.cms.gov/About-CMS/Agency-Information/omh/index.html.

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