Nursing

Take action to fight racial, ethnic disparities

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, November 1, 2007

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Racial and ethnic disparities in health are costing lives and money as minorities face barriers to wellness that result in higher levels of chronic illness and mortality rates and lower quality of care than white Americans. The reasons for the barriers are often debated and can be language-related, structural, financial, or discriminatory.

Experts in the field believe that in order to provide proper healthcare to those in minority groups and keep costs under control, the healthcare industry will need to adopt programs to help better understand racial and ethnic populations. Keep the following recommendations in mind as opportunities to address disparities:

  • Strengthen and standardize efforts to collect information about enrollees' race and ethnicity
  • Incorporate disparities reduction goals and objectives into health plan and provider contracts
  • Analyze utilization and performance data by race and ethnicity to identify disparities and target patient and provider interventions
  • Increase access to culturally and linguistically appropriate care
  • Develop community-based strategies to reach out to minority members

To get more information, go to Disease Management Advisor (DMA). For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire November issue of DMA. Click here to choose between the PDF and HTML versions for just $30. Subscribers to the online version of DMA have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter can find this article in their November issue.



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