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Presentation: Health Care Reform and Closing Ethnic Disparities
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Time: Sunday Afternoon
Purpose: Identify key elements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that will impact health care disparities with a particular focus on Asian and Pacific Islander communities.
Objectives:
Identify key provisions of health care reform that will impact health care disparities.
Relate particular aspects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that present opportunities to address disparities.
Distinguish components of health care reform that are critical to the mitigation of disparities in the next decade.
Medical Director, Community Benefit
Director, Disparities Improvement and Quality Initiatives
Kaiser Permanente
Bio:
Dr. Winston Wong leads Kaiser Permanente’s efforts in developing and cultivating community partnerships that address the needs of the underserved and the pursuit of health equity. At Kaiser Permanente, the nation’s largest integrated pre-paid health provider with over 8.5 million members, Dr. Wong guides investments and partnerships
to support the country’s community health centers, public hospitals and public health systems, with a particular emphasis on the promotion of population management strategies and the elimination of health disparities.
As a clinician and medical director of a federally supported community health center in Oakland’s Chinatown, from 1986- 93, Dr. Wong established several programs targeting health inequities faced by immigrant Asian communities . From 1993 – 2003, Dr. Wong served as a Commissioned Officer of the U.S. Public Health Service, achieving the rank of Captain, and serving in various roles in the Region IX Office of the Department of Health and Human Services. Among his duties was the clinical development of federally qualified health centers in a four state territory and the overall management of California programs supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), representing an annual federal expenditure of over $150 million. He was also appointed
HRSA’s liaison to public health programs in the Pacific Basin jurisdictions of Micronesia, American Samoa, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Guam and Saipan. In recognition of his public service, Wong was the recipient of the U.S. Public Health Service’s Outstanding Service Medal.
Dr. Wong is a notable national authority in areas of cultural competence and health disparities. He co-chaired the National Quality Forum’s Steering Committee on Cultural Competence, which led to a framework for the adoption of culturally competent practices among the nation’s health care providers. Dr. Wong serves on two Institute Of Medicine sponsored groups: the Roundtable on Health Disparities, and the Roundtable on Health Literacy.
Dr. Wong serves on the Executive Committee of the National Council of Asian Pacific Islander Physicians (NCAPIP), and is also the President of the Kaiser Permanente Asian Association. He is also an associate editor of the Permanente Journal. His professional work and accomplishments have been recognized by the National Minority Health Forum, Western Clinicians Network, Asian Health Services, and Asian Perinatal Advocates.
Dr. Wong received his baccalaureate in Ethnic Studies with Honors from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Masters and Medical degrees from the UCSF-Berkeley Joint Medical Program. He is also a Certified Health Insurance Executive.