Public schools and facilities will be closed. Church bells will chime, while a number of flags will fly at half-mast.  Because in 1983, former Republican President Ronald Reagan proclaimed that the third Monday of January would forever be observed as Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

This coming Monday, Jan. 17, Monitor Mondays will honor the slain civil rights leader with a special report recognizing efforts by various stakeholders to advance a variety of initiatives designed to improve health equity in America.

Reporting on how communities of color can benefit from regulatory efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and related federal agencies will be Lenel James, a business lead for Health Information Exchange & Innovation for the BlueCross and BlueShield Association (BCBSA). Mr. James was formerly associated with the Region V Regional Health Equity Council of Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health. In addition, he previously served on the Board of the Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce in Chicago, the second largest African American Chamber of Commerce in the US.

Other segments to be featured during the live broadcast include the following:

• Risky Business: Healthcare attorney David Glaser, shareholder in the law offices of Fredrikson & Bryon, will join the broadcast with his trademark segment.
• Monday Rounds: Ronald Hirsch, MD, vice president of R1 RCM, will be making his Monday Rounds with another installment of his popular segment.
• RAC Report: Healthcare attorney Knicole Emanuel, a partner at the law firm of Practus, will file the Monitor Mondays RAC Report. 
• Legislative Update: Former CMS official Matthew Albright, now chief legislative affairs officer for Zelis, will report on the status of healthcare legislation associated with the current COVID-19 pandemic.
• SDoH Report: Tiffany Ferguson, a subject matter expert on the social determinants of health (SDoH), will report on the news that’s happening at the intersection of the healthcare regulations and the SDoH.