Programs seek solutions to health disparities

Efforts to address gaps in care move to the implementation phase.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, amednews staff. Dec. 12, 2005.

With the existence of health disparities linked to race and ethnicity now a reasonably well-quantified problem and some of the factors causing the gap better understood, advocates are attempting to convert this knowledge into action.

For example, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation this fall launched three new national initiatives that will identify and test specific interventions in real-world clinical settings.

"It is time to move beyond documenting the unacceptable existence of these gaps in care and shift our focus to developing and testing solutions," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, CEO and president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

One initiative features a "learning network" that will allow 10 hospitals to test new ideas, share information and quantify results to address differences in the care of cardiac patients. Another will provide grants to address race and ethnicity as a part of quality improvement initiatives. This approach is expected to examine the standard of care for cardiovascular disease, depression and diabetes. The third will analyze the results of these and other disparity projects and distribute the information.

Overall, experts agree that efforts like these are appropriate next steps that could take the understanding gained and apply it.

"We are moving away from generalizing to look at the specifics of what makes a difference," said John F. Schneider, MD, PhD, chair of the American Medical Association's Council on Scientific Affairs and Public Health and a member of the Commission to End Health Care Disparities, launched earlier this year by the AMA in conjunction with the National Medical Assn. and the National Hispanic Medical Assn.

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