Minority Health and Health Equity Archive

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    Moving upstream: how interventions that address the social determinants of health can improve health and reduce disparities.
    (2008) Williams, David R; Costa, Manuela V; Odunlami, Adebola O; Mohammed, Selina A
    There is considerable scientific and policy interest in reducing socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare and health status. Currently, much of the policy focus around reducing health disparities has been geared toward improving access, coverage, quality, and the intensity of healthcare. However, health is more a function of lifestyles linked to living and working conditions than of healthcare. Accordingly, effective efforts to improve health and reduce gaps in health need to pay greater attention to addressing the social determinants of health within and outside of the healthcare system. This article highlights research evidence documenting that tackling the social determinants of health can lead to reductions in health disparities. It focuses both on interventions within the healthcare system that address some of the social determinants of health and on interventions in upstream factors such as housing, neighborhood conditions, and increased socioeconomic status that can lead to improvements in health. The studies reviewed highlight the importance of systematic evaluation of social and economic policies that might have health consequences and the need for policy makers, healthcare providers, and leaders across multiple sectors of society to apply currently available knowledge to improve the underlying conditions that impact the health of populations.
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    NIH Conference on Understanding and Reducing Disparities in Health: Behavioral and Social Sciences Research Contributions
    (2007) UNSPECIFIED
    The conference focuses on three broad areas of action influencing health disparities: policy, prevention, and healthcare. It emphasize both basic research on the behavioral, social, and biomedical pathways giving rise to disparities in health and applied research on the development, testing, and delivery of interventions to reduce disparities in these three action areas. The conference employs a multi-level analytic framework (i.e., ranging from individuals to societies). It includes research relevant to a wide range of population groups (e.g., variation by SES, race, ethnicity, gender) residing in the United States, while not attempting to provide detailed analyses of each and every group. Consideration is given to multiple public health issues and their interactions (e.g., multiple morbidities rather than single illnesses) and to risk factors or causal processes common to various health conditions (e.g., smoking, diet, exercise, access to health care). http://obssr.
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    2005 National Healthcare Disparities Report
    (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2005) UNSPECIFIED
    Key Themes and Highlights From the National Healthcare Disparities Report Twenty years ago, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black and Minority Health. That report documented many disparities in health and led to interventions to improve the health and health care of minorities. This year, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is pleased to release the third National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR). This annual report provides a comprehensive national overview of disparities in health care among racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in the general U.S. population and within priority populations and tracks the success of activities to reduce disparities. It is a companion report to the National Healthcare Quality Report (NHQR), a comprehensive overview of quality of health care in America. A major advantage of an annual report series is its ability to track changes over time. This year, data are presented that begin tracking trends across a broad array of measures of health care quality and access for many racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups. In addition, the 2005 report begins to examine the issue of whether the Nation is making progress toward eliminating health care disparities. The NHDR tracks disparities in both quality of health care and access to health care. Measures of health care quality mirror those in the NHQR and encompass four dimensions of quality—effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness. Measures of health care access are unique to this report and encompass two dimensions of access—facilitators and barriers to care and health care utilization.
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    The Uninsured in America
    (2005) Blue Cross, Blue Shield Association
    The rising number of Americans without health insurance concerns us all. The ability to live a healthy and productive life is important to everyone. Quality healthcare coverageis essential to that goal, and the lack of coverage can be devastating to families. Reducing the number of uninsured Americans and keeping quality healthcare affordable are the top priorities of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield System. As healthcare companies that have been members of the American community for more than 75 years, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans want to be part of the solution. There is no single magic answer to this problem. Research shows that the uninsured are diverse and that there are many reasons why some individuals and their families are uninsured. This report highlights how Blue Cross and Blue Shield has taken a leadership role at the national and local levels to keep costs in line and increase opportunities for affordable coverage. The broad range of initiatives outlined here addresses the specific needs of the many millions of people who make up the uninsured in America. At the same time, we know that the continuing vitality of America's healthcare system depends on thoughtful, coordinated contributions from all sides. That is why we also set out a series of legislative proposals in this document calling for the private sector and government to work hand-in-hand to reduce the number of the uninsured. Taken together, these proposals could reduce the ranks of the 44.7 million uninsured Americans identified in the 2004 Census report by as much as two-thirds.