Join CMS OMH As We Celebrate American Heart Month and Black History Month

Office of Minority Health

Learn More About CMS OMH Resources and Initiatives to Help Those Affected by Heart Disease Take Steps Toward Better Health

Join the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) as it honors American Heart Month and Black History Month by helping those affected by heart disease take steps towards better health.

As both observances are highlighted annually throughout the month of February, there is no better time to bring awareness about heart disease, its risk factors, and how heart disease disproportionately affects African American communities. While heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States (Source), minority groups including African Americans, are more likely to be affected by chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and diabetes that increase their risk for heart disease. This may also be attributed to various socio-economic factors, such as access to health care.

Did You Know? Prevalence of heart failure is highest among Black/African American beneficiaries (17%), followed by American Indian/Alaska Native (14%), White (14%), Hispanic (13%), and Asian/Pacific Islander (10%). (Source)

Throughout February, the CMS OMH welcomes your participation in learning more about its resources and initiatives that can be used to improve access to health care services and health equity within minority communities and eliminate the health disparities that exist.

Below are resources that you can use this month and beyond.

• Review CMS OMH’s heart-related data snapshots to learn more about health disparities that exist within the Medicare population:
  • Heart Failure
  • Ischemic Heart Disease
  • Hypertension
• From Coverage to Care is an initiative to help patients understand their health coverage and connect to primary care and preventive services that are right for them so they can live a long and healthy life. These patient friendly resources help breakdown the complexities of health coverage and are available in a variety of languages.
  • Preventive Services Flyer
  • 5 Ways to Make the Most of Your Coverage
  • Roadmap to Better Care
• The Connected Care campaign helps raise awareness of the benefits of chronic care management (CCM) for patients with multiple chronic conditions and provides health care professionals with resources to implement CCM. This program for Medicare beneficiaries helps connect patients to the services they need to manage chronic conditions. 
  • CCM Connected Care Toolkit 
  • “Connecting the Dots” animated video for patients about CCM services for Medicare beneficiaries living with multiple chronic conditions; the video is also available in Spanish 
• Read CMS OMH’s Building an Organizational Response to Disparities to find evidence-based interventions that can contribute to reducing health disparities. Key resources include:
  • A Practical Guide to Implementing the National CLAS Standards 
  • Guide to Developing a Language Access Plan
  • Compendium of Resources for Standardized Demographic and Language Data Collection
• Read the Race, Ethnicity, and Language Preference in the Health Insurance Marketplaces 2017 Open Enrollment Period data highlight, which examines Marketplace enrollment by racial and ethnic subgroup as well as language preference.

For More Information, visit the CMS OMH website at go.cms.gov/omh or contact us at omh@cms.hhs.gov.