The Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative: Wrestling with Important Issues About Health Equity and Disparities

The Health Professions Accreditors Collaborative (HPAC), established in 2014, has 25 health professions accreditor members working together to advance interprofessional collaboration. In December 2020, recognizing their important role, HPAC members convened virtually to learn together about the role of accreditation in addressing contemporary issues about diversity, health equity, health disparities, race and inclusion. With permission, the agenda included related video presentations related to the title from the 2020 Nexus Summit. Breakout sessions and group discussion revealed substantial differences on where and how members are addressing health equity and health disparities in their standards. The consensus at the end of the meeting was that a survey should be conducted to allow members to evaluate their standards versus those of colleague accreditors and to consider possible quality improvements/best practices in their standards revision activities.

During this Courageous Conversation Café, Dr. Vlasses will share anonymous results from the 2021 HPAC survey to stimulate discussion. Participants will consider the realities of the role that accreditors play today and in the future to support the advancement of diversity, health equity and inclusion efforts in health professions education and interprofessional practice and education to prepare individual practitioners and teams for their future.