OutBox Closing The Gap

By Romana Hasnain-Wynia

A new consortium seeks to end health care disparities

According to two recent polls, a significant majority of Americansbelieve that blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities receivethe same quality of health care as whites. However, a sizeablebody of literature reveals that this is not the case. There are,in fact, disturbing, persistent health disparities. But thereis more to the story than that. What is striking is what happensonce members of minority groups enter the health care system.Mounting evidence indicates that differential treatment of minoritypopulations contributes to poorer outcomes--even after controllingfor income, education, type of insurance and severity of illness.That is the bad news.

The good news is that we are beginning to aggressively addressthis matter. A recent Institute of Medicine report, "UnequalTreatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in HealthCare," provides a strong foundation for efforts to eliminateminority disparities. (go to www4.nationalacademies.org;click on Recent Reports.)

Other good efforts are under way--in primary care through theleadership of the Bureau of Primary Health Care, in Centers ofExcellence at university research centers through the Agency forHealth Research and Quality, through the Minority Health DisparitiesResearch and Education Act, and in community coalitions throughthe CDC, the American Public Health Association, and many smallerefforts at individual institutions throughout the country.

The Health Research and Educational Trust, the research andeducational affiliate of the American Hospital Association, isworking with a consortium that will be a critical piece of oureffort to eliminate health disparities. The consortium comprisesNorthwestern Memorial Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital,Parkland Memorial Hospital, the Henry Ford Health System, andKaiser Foundation Health Plan. Our goals include:

Developing a uniform framework for collecting race, ethnicity and primary language data at hospitals
Developing a strategy to educate providers about the importance of collecting these data
Establishing a baseline of patterns of care for specific conditions with set standards of care to track changes over time
Implementing a clinical intervention to improve the quality of health care for vulnerable populations
Assessing organizational competency in providing culturally competent care
Assessing patients' perceptions of the care they receive
Reducing health disparities

With the support of the Commonwealth Fund, the kickoff meetingwas held in January. This effort speaks to the larger issue ofproviding quality care to everyone. The contribution that leadingorganizations can make to reduce disparities is enormous.

Romana Hasnain-Wynia, Ph.D., is director, Health ServicesResearch & Evaluation, HRET, Chicago.

Contact rhashain@aha.org

This article 1st appeared on June 1, 2002 in HHN Magazine online site.

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