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National Indian Health Board will host the Tribal Health Equity Data Symposium on September 26 – 27, 2023. The conference is open to anyone interested in the topics of the conference, but especially recommended for Tribal public health professionals, CMS Tribal Technical Advisory Group (TTAG) members from the Health Equity and/or Data Subcommittees, Tribal leaders, epidemiologists and staff from Tribal Epidemiology Centers, professionals from Federal and state agencies interested in the topics, academics and other practitioners who are passionate about the issues specific to Tribal Health Equity Data outlined below.
NIHB is now accepting proposals
We welcome all kinds of proposals as we hope to have a symposium filled with a variety of presentation/discussion formats. We welcome research presentations, case studies, best practice discussions, community perspectives, front line findings, lived experiences, and policy insights. If you have examples or case studies of how your organization/Tribe approaches issues around Tribal health data, we would like to hear from you. We would like to provide examples of how a Tribe or organization solved an issue around Tribal data access, measuring Tribal health equity, or reporting on Tribal health equity. We plan to include:
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Panel of presentations with Questions/Answers: Each presenter would be part of a panel with each presentation lasting at most 15 minutes (3 – 4 presenters total) with discussion to follow.
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Roundtable Discussion of Topics: If you have relevant expertise on perspectives on these issues and would like to participate in a panel discussion, please let us know.
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Poster Session: A chance to share examples of culturally-grounded data work.
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Interactive/Other: We’re looking to include creative and diverse session formats, and we welcome your ideas. Opportunities for attendee participation and practical application are encouraged.
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Focus of Proposal: Topics for the Tribal Health Equity Data Symposium
Any proposal should address one of the topic areas below:
(1) Measuring Tribal Health Equity
What should we be measuring? What makes it a useful indicator and measurement? How do we make sure assets and strengths are included? How does a Tribal perspective inform the research questions we ask and how we go about measuring health status, disparities, and progress?
(2) Accessing Tribal Health Equity Data
Challenges and opportunities related to how Tribes, Tribal Epidemiology Centers, and Tribal organizations access necessary data to track health equity priorities. What opportunities may exist to overcome barriers related to law and policy, technical issues, administrative procedures, or relationships with federal/state/local government agencies?
(3) Reporting and Communicating Tribal Health Equity Data
What are best practices for reporting on Tribal health data in a way that is culturally relevant, supports Tribal health equity, promotes action, and does not risk further stigmatization? What kinds of data comparisons and data visualizations are most helpful and most appropriate?
(4) Defining the Population
We are looking forward to a nuanced discussion on how “American Indian/Alaska Native” is defined across data collection sites, data sets, and data uses, and the implications for how differing definitions affect data analysis, reporting, and other considerations. We are looking for different perspectives on the most useful and appropriate language to define the AI/AN population, as well as recommendations for federal standards for defining race and ethnicity categories. The background for this discussion is related to the Statistical Policy Directive 15 (SPD 15) on race and ethnicity standards (these standards will be used across all federal agencies and ultimately applied in health care settings and electronic health record systems as well).
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How to Present a Proposal
Note: Our goal is to have a diverse group of perspectives represented from various sectors of work related to Tribal health equity data. We welcome proposals that (1) advance health equity for American Indians and Alaska Natives; (2) use a Tribal lens and/or come from a perspective of Indigenous identity; and (3) have practical application. All individuals from Tribes, Tribal organizations, government agencies, health organizations, academia, and community-based organizations are welcome to submit proposals, including policy leaders, data analysts, researchers, medical, doctoral, and graduate students, and others. However, we cannot accept proposals that are commercial or promotional, proposals with plagiarized research, or proposals with substantive errors.
Proposals may be submitted by email to Rochelle Ruffer at [email protected] by Sunday, July 16.
Please include “Tribal Health Equity Data Symposium Proposal” in the subject line. In your email, please include the following:
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The preferred format of your presentation: presentation as part of a panel, roundtable discussion, poster session, or interactive/other (if interactive/other, please describe).
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The topic area of your presentation (Measuring Tribal Health Equity, Accessing Tribal Health Equity Data, Reporting & Communicating Tribal Health Equity Data, or Defining the Population)
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The full title of your submission to be used for the program, should your proposal be accepted.
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Proposal (maximum 500 words - Tables and graphs do not count towards this word count, but we ask that materials are kept to a reasonable length.)
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Authors and affiliations – Please indicate for ALL authors: full name, email, affiliation(s), city, state, and indicate which authors are presenting.
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A short biography of the presenting author (s).
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Proposal Review Process
Proposals will be reviewed, scored, and selected by staff at National Indian Health Board (NIHB). Proposals must be aligned with one of the four topics highlighted above and will be reviewed based on the following:
- All information requested is completed.
- The author has demonstrated knowledge.
- The proposal is well-written.
- The proposal clearly addresses one of the symposium topic areas.
All applicants will be notified no later than Tuesday, August 1st as to the acceptance of their proposal. Once accepted, applicants must be available to present on a designated panel in-person at the Tribal Health Equity Data Symposium on Tuesday, September 26 or Wednesday, September 27 in Washington, D.C. In order to make sure we design a dynamic and interesting agenda, we cannot honor requests for specific day/times for presentations. We hope you plan to stay for the entire symposium.
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Conference Details
The symposium is in-person only in Washington, DC. The exact location will be announced shortly. We expect approximately 200 participants based on previous years’ (pre-Covid) attendance. NIHB will provide a list of hotels near the symposium site.
We will hold space for presenters but will ask you to register for the symposium (free) no later than August 15, 2023. Details of how to register will be provided with notifications of proposal acceptances. Should your proposal not be accepted, we hope you will still consider attending the Tribal Health Equity Data Symposium.
Please note there is no registration fee for the symposium. However, there is no funding for travel and/or expenses for presenters or attendees.
Funding
Day 1 of the symposium is supported by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award with 100 percent of the funding by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by CMS/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
There is no additional funding for travel or hotel expenses of presenters or participants.
Additional Questions
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Rochelle Ruffer at [email protected].
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