AGA was awarded a $100,000 grant from the Council of Medical Specialty Societies (CMSS) for a project entitled “Narrowing Health Disparities in Diagnostic Evaluation of Iron Deficiency Anemia through Clinician-directed and Patient-focused Interventions” with Dr. Shazia Siddique as the project director and primary investigator.
CMSS, a coalition of 51 specialty societies representing more than 800,000 physicians across health care, has awarded 11 member specialty societies grants of $100,000 each to promote diagnostic excellence across the field of medicine. These awards fund a diverse array of projects to support the development and dissemination of resources and programs to improve the timeliness, accuracy, safety efficiency, patient-centeredness, and equity of diagnostic outcomes for patients in the United States.
Shazia Siddique, MD, MSHP
“Our goal is to help move the needle on evaluating and treating patients with iron deficiency anemia, which is an important but often overlooked marker for gastrointestinal cancer or other obscure bleeding. Notable evidence-to-practice gaps have been outlined, with greater disparities in care amongst Black patients and women. Our plan is to develop both clinician-directed interventions, an Epic alert and orderset to facilitate clinician ordering of guideline-driven testing, and a patient-directed intervention through the development of educational infographics. Through a partnership with the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists (ABGH), we will engage and solicit feedback from Black patients and refine our educational tools. Ultimately, we hope to promote the adoption of our AGA guideline and develop tools to reduce existing disparities in care. I'm very grateful to CMSS and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to pursue this important and hopefully impactful work and look forward to working closely with the AGA and ABGH this year.”
Through this grant, AGA will partner with the Association of Black Gastroenterologists and Hepatologists (ABGH) to test and disseminate patient materials to raise awareness of iron-deficiency anemia in Black communities, and which clinicians can use during clinic visits to promote shared decision-making and patient engagement.
The Council of Medical Specialty Societies is the national organization of specialty societies representing more than 800,000 physicians across the house of medicine. CMSS works to catalyze improvement across specialties through convening, collaborating, and collective action to address emerging issues that influence the future of healthcare and the patients we serve. For more information, visit www.cmss.org.
The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation fosters path-breaking scientific discovery, environmental conservation, patient care improvements and preservation of the special character of the Bay Area. Visit www.Moore.org or follow @MooreFound.
