A program to reduce the disparity in the rate of biennial lipid profiles between African-American and white Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes mellitus in New York City.

The burden of diabetes is more severe for minority populations than for the white population in the United States. Analysis of Medicare fee-for-service claims data revealed a significant disparity regarding screening for lipids between white and African-American Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes as measured by the biennial lipid profile indicator in New York State and the disparity was even greater in New York City. Thus IPRO, the Medicare New York State Quality Improvement Organization, launched a multifaceted quality improvement project to reduce the disparity, targeting African-American Medicare beneficiaries with diabetes in New York City and the providers who serve them. There was an absolute increase of 16.7% in the proportion of African-American beneficiaries with diabetes receiving a biennial lipid profile in the intervention areas and the disparity reduced by 9.8% between African-American and all eligible white beneficiaries in the intervention areas. Although it was not feasible to determine the direct impact of selected interventions on reducing the disparity, the interventions collectively appeared to be effective.