Through the Physician Data Initiative, a working group founded to establish a standard practice for categorizing, collecting, reporting and sharing sociodemographic data, the AMA has partnered with other organizations to produce standards to better share physician workforce data to advance a more diverse and culturally prepared physician workforce.
AMA, ACGME and AAMC partnership
This initiative from the AMA, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) and the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), sets the foundation for expanded access to physician workforce data across the continuum of medical education, clinical practice and research. This work is driven by the importance of a diverse physician workforce and a more equitable health system, and recommended standards are now available for race and ethnicity and language proficiency.
Race and Ethnicity Data Collection and Reporting Standard
The purpose of this standard is to help organizations in the health care community to collect and report race and ethnicity data in a way that is as thoughtful as possible and cognizant of the complexities of these data while trying to align with federal practice where applicable.
Language Proficiency Standard
Revisions made to the AAMC language question and the ILR-H scale are intended to clarify the descriptors by applying inclusive language principles and enhancing the usability of the scale while preserving the original meaning and keeping the descriptors as concise as possible.
Any organization is free to use the race and ethnicity and language proficiency standards. While the goal is not to mandate standards broadly across organizations, there is great benefit to voluntarily adopting mutually agreed-upon values and structure to gather and disaggregate data consistently.
Additional standards are planned for development in the future.
Register for webinar
Register for the Dec. 5 AAMC webinar, "The Physician Data Initiative: Establishing the Foundations for Collaborative Data Sharing" to find out more about the two newly released standards.
Contact us
To learn more about the work of the Physician Data Initiative, contact Vice President of Physician Professional Data Tammy Weaver at [email protected].
