MHA Press Room

Studies find racial disparities in heart disease risk, mortality

African Americans are about twice as likely to die from coronary heart disease compared with their white counterparts, largely due to higher incidence of risk factors, according to a study in the Nov. 7 Journal of the American Medical Association. African-American women also have a higher rate of nonfatal coronary heart disease than white women, the study found.

The findings are based on an analysis of 24,443 men and women enrolled in the Reasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke study, a federally supported study tracking stroke risk and cognitive health in a diverse sample of U.S. adults. A separate study appearing in the journal, which focuses on cardiovascular disease, found heart disease risk factors widespread among U.S. Hispanic/Latino adults, with 80% of men and 71% of women having at least one risk factor for heart disease.

HHS aims to assess effort targeting disparities

HHS' Office of Minority Health is seeking to evaluate the success of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities, which was launched in April 2011 to create a community-driven and sustained approach to combating health disparities, according to a filing in the Federal Register. Read more Paul Barr in Modern Healthcare here.

Survey recognizes hospital efforts to promote diversity, equitable care

Hospitals are making progress in key areas that can promote equitable care, according to a survey released June 6 by the American Hospital Association’s Institute for Diversity in Health Management affiliate. For example, hospitals are collecting patient demographic data on race (94%), ethnicity (87%), primary language (90%) and disability status (70%), which can help them tailor the delivery of care to patients and develop appropriate quality improvement interventions.

Eight in 10 hospitals educate all clinical staff about how to address the unique cultural and linguistic factors affecting the care of diverse patients, and 61% require all employees to attend diversity training. Sixty-five percent of hospitals incorporate diversity management into their budgetary process, 48% have a documented plan to recruit and retain a diverse workforce, and 42% have a program to identify diverse, talented employees for promotion.

“Hospitals are committed to ensuring that all patients receive the very best care for their particular needs,” said AHA President and CEO Rich Umbdenstock. “This survey will help hospitals focus attention and energy on areas of greatest need for the specific populations served by each hospital.”

The survey’s top-performing hospitals were honored today at the Institute’s National Leadership and Education Conference in Nashville.

CDC: Unemployed adults have poorer health, access to care

Unemployed adults are more likely to be uninsured and in poor health than those with jobs, and less likely to receive needed medical care and prescriptions, according to a report released Jan. 24 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based on data from the CDC's National Health Interview Survey, 48% of unemployed adults had health insurance in 2009-2010, compared with 81% of employed adults.

More than 41% of unemployed adults without health insurance delayed or did not receive needed medical care due to cost, compared with 15% of those with private health insurance, the survey found. More than 11% of unemployed adults had fair or poor health, compared with 5% of employed adults.

AHRQ issues annual quality, disparities reports

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality on Feb. 28 issued its eighth annual health care quality and disparities reports, which measure trends and disparities in health care access and quality based on more than 200 measures. According to the reports, gains in health care quality were seen in a number of areas, with the highest rates of improvement in measures related to treatment of acute illnesses or injuries.

For example, the proportion of heart attack patients who underwent procedures to unblock heart arteries within 90 minutes improved from 42% in 2005 to 81% in 2008. However, disparities in health care access and quality based on race and ethnicity, socioeconomic status and other factors continue to persist, the reports state.

On average, Americans report barriers to care one-fifth of the time, ranging from 3% of people saying they were unable to get or had to delay getting prescription medications to 60% of people saying their usual provider did not have office hours on weekends or nights.

CDC issues report on health disparities, inequalities

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 13 issued CDC Health Disparities and Inequalities in the United States - 2011, the first in a periodic series of reports examining disparities in selected social and health indicators. The report consolidates the most recent national data on disparities in mortality, morbidity, behavioral risk factors, health care access, preventive health services, and social determinants of critical health problems using certain indicators.

"Differences in health based on race, ethnicity, or economics can be reduced, but will require public awareness and understanding of which groups are most vulnerable, which disparities are most correctable through available interventions, and whether disparities are being resolved over time," CDC Director Thomas Frieden, M.D., notes in the report. "These problems must be addressed with intervention strategies related to both health and social programs, and more broadly, access to economic, educational, employment, and housing opportunities."

Docs wrestle cultures, languages: survey

Physicians are struggling to overcome language and cultural barriers in communicating with patients, according to a new national survey released by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

The survey, Modest and Uneven: Physician Efforts to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, found that nearly half (48.6%) of all physicians in 2008 had reported minor communications problems associated with language or cultural barriers, affecting their ability to provide high-quality care.

Group issues recommendations for transforming U.S. maternity care

Childbirth Connection on Jan. 28released a vision and action plan for improving maternity care quality and value in the U.S. Developed with input from health care providers, payers, educators, quality experts and others, the plan calls for: national quality measures for maternity care and public reporting of maternity care data; a restructured payment model that bundles payment for the full episode of maternity care for women and newborns; research to reduce disparities in maternity services and outcomes; and an essential package of evidence-based maternity care services for healthy and special-needs women and newborns, among other actions. Formerly known as the Maternity Center Association, Childbirth Connection is a national organization that works to improve maternity care.

The reports were developed through the organization's Transforming Maternity Care Project.

Study: Blacks less likely to survive cardiac arrest in hospital

African Americans are 10% less likely than whites to survive a cardiac arrest while under hospital care, according to a study published Sept. 15 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Based on eight years of data from the National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation, the study also found that African-American patients are more likely to have irregular heart beats and are sicker when admitted to the hospital.

“Whether lower rates of post-resuscitation survival in blacks are due to lower quality [intensive care unit] expertise, less aggressive use of post-resuscitation therapies or other characteristics of the hospital to which they are more likely to be admitted, requires further study,” the authors said.

IOM calls for patient race, ethnicity data standards

The Department of Health and Human Services should develop national standards for collecting data on patient race, ethnicity and primary language to better understand and address disparities in health care quality and outcomes, according to a report released Aug. 31 by the Institute of Medicine. Additional data categories should be combined with categories in use by the Office of Management and Budget, and these new standards should be used by federally funded health care programs and in electronic health record systems, the report recommends.