[NYAPRS Enews] HHS Announces Plan to Reduce Health Disparities

[Harvey Rosenthal]

HHS Announces Plan to Reduce Health Disparities

National Partnership For Action Launches Strategy To Strengthen And
Expand Community-Led Efforts To Achieve Health Equity

 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services today launched two
strategic plans aimed at reducing health disparities.

The HHS Action Plan to Reduce Health Disparities outlines goals and
actions HHS will take to reduce health disparities among racial and
ethnic minorities.

HHS also released the National Stakeholder Strategy for Achieving Health
Equity, a common set of goals and objectives for public and private
sector initiatives and partnerships to help racial and ethnic minorities
and other underserved groups reach their full health potential. The
strategy, a product of the National Partnership for Action (NPA),
incorporates ideas, suggestions and comments from thousands of
individuals and organizations across the country. The NPA was
coordinated by the HHS Office of Minority Health.

Racial and ethnic minorities still lag behind in many health outcome
measures. They are less likely to get the preventive care they need to
stay healthy, more likely to suffer from serious illnesses, such as
diabetes or heart disease, and when they do get sick, are less likely to
have access to quality health care.

The Affordable Care Act offers the potential to address the needs of
racial and ethnic minority populations, by bringing down health care
costs, investing in prevention and wellness, supporting improvements in
primary care, and creating linkages between the traditional realms of
health and social services

"For the first time, the United States has a coordinated road map
designed to give everyone the chance to live a healthy life," said HHS
Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. "We all need to work together to combat
this persistent problem so that we can build healthier communities and a
stronger nation."

Today, Secretary Sebelius will meet with patients, community leaders and
advocates at the Boriken Community Health Center in East Harlem, N.Y.,
to see firsthand how communities are addressing gaps in coverage. Later
today, she also will keynote the National Action Network's Women's Power
Lunch to outline the "call to action" to end disparities in health and
health care.

Goals of the HHS Action Plan include transforming health care and
expanding access, building on the provisions of the Affordable Care Act
related to expanded insurance coverage and increased access to care. The
plan also calls for more opportunities to increase the number of
students from populations underrepresented in the health professions,
train more people in medical interpretation to help serve patients with
a limited command of English, and train community workers to help people
navigate the system.

The plan also calls for HHS to set data standards and upgrade collection
and analysis of data on race, ethnicity, primary language and other
demographic categories in line with new provisions of the Affordable
Care Act.

"Health disparities have burdened our country for too long," said
Assistant Secretary for Health Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH. "This plan
reaffirms and revitalizes a national commitment to helping all persons
reach their full health potential."

Local groups can use the National Stakeholder Strategy to identify which
goals are most important for their communities and adopt the most
effective strategies and action steps to help reach them.

Both plans call for federal agencies and their partners to work together
on social, economic and environmental factors that contribute to health
disparities.

"Where people live, learn, work and play affects their health as much as
their access to health care," said Garth Graham, MD, MPH, deputy
assistant secretary for minority health and director of the HHS Office
of Minority Health. "We have to confront the social, economicand
environmental factors that contribute to health disparitiesif we are to
fulfill the President's goal of 'winning the future."

The HHS Office of Minority Health is also launching new web pages to
provide information and tools for organizations and individuals working
to reduce health care disparities.

For more information about the plans and the National Partnership for
Action, visit:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/04/04hdplan04082011.html

For more information about health disparities and the Affordable Care
Act, visit:
http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/04/hdstrategy04082011.html

 

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