Articles, Presentations and Resources

Here is a select list of compiled articles, presentations and resources generated by HRET and other organizations committed to reducing disparities in health care and health outcomes.
According to Romana Hasnain-Wynia of the Health Research and Educational Trust (which is affiliated with the American Hospital Association), "We do not currently have, at least within the hospitals within the United States, a systematic way of collecting data on race, ethnicity, or primary language. If you speak to four hospitals within the same region and ask them how they collect racial and ethnic data, [you are going to get different] responses from" each of them.

Hasnain-Wynia said that hospitals need racial and ethnic data and other characteristics of their patients to assess disparities, design targeted interventions to improve the quality of care, and evaluate outcomes. Recently, she reported, the Health Research and Educational Trust started a project with a consortium of six hospitals and health systems to develop a uniform framework for collecting racial, ethnic, and primary language data.

Improving Race and Ethnicity Data on Health

Articles

Baker DW, Cameron KA, Feinglass J, Georgas P, Foster S, Pierce D, Thompson J., Hasnain-Wynia R. “Patients’ Attitudes Toward Health Care Providers Collecting Information About Their Race And Ethnicity.”  Journal of General Internal Medicine. Online. August 10, 2005.

Baker DW, Cameron KA, Feinglass J, Georgas P, Foster S, Pierce D, Thompson J, Hasnain-Wynia R. “Development and Testing of a System to Rapidly and Accurately Collecting Patients’ Race And Ethnicity.” American Journal of Public Health (accepted)

Hasnain-Wynia, R. “Collecting Ethnicity and Language Data.” Hospitals and Health Networks. Online. October 26, 2004.

Margolin, F.S., R. Hasnain-Wynia, G.W. Torres, & M. Pittman, “Perspective: The Value of Collaboration in Eliminating Barriers to Preventive Care and Screening Among Underserved Populations.” Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 27:4, 339:347. Oct 2004.

Hasnain-Wynia, R., F.S. Margolin, and M.A. Pittman, “The Role of Hospitals in the Community.” In B. Jennings, V.A. Sharp, A. Fleischman, and B. Gray (Eds.), The Ethics of Hospital Trusteeship: Responsible Governance of the Not-for-Profit Hospital. Washington: Georgetown University Press, 2004.

Hasnain-Wynia, R, Pierce, D and Pittman, M. “Who, When and How: The Current State of Race, Ethnicity and Primary Language Data Collection in Hospitals.” The Commonwealth Fund. May 2004.

National Academy of Sciences Report: "Improving Race and Ethnicity Data on Health: Report of a Workshop" (2003)

Health Forum Journal, Winter 2003, 46:1 "Working to Eliminate Racial Disparities" by Romana Hasnain-Wynia

Hospital and Health Networks August, 2003 "Blind to Bias?" by Terese Hudson Thrall and Emily Friedman

Hospital and Health Networks Magazine June, 2003 "Closing The Gap" by Romana Hasnain-Wynia

"Disparities: An Annotated Bibliography" of Articles from Health Services Research Journal

Presentations

“Using Race and Ethnicity Data to Improve Quality of Care” Health Forum/ American Hospital Association Leadership Summit. San Diego, CA, July 2005.

“Using Data from the CMS National Voluntary Hospital Reporting Initiative to Identify Disparities,” Alliance for Health Care Reform Leveraging Quality Data to Eliminate Disparities Presentation. Washington, DC, June 2005.

“Linking Race and Ethnicity Data to Inpatient Quality of Care Measures,” AcademyHealth Presentation. Boston, MA, June 2005.

“Why Health Care Organizations Should Collect Race and Ethnicity Data: A Case for a Uniform Framework” National Association of Health Data Organizations Annual Meeting. December 2004.

“Reducing Disparities and Improving Quality of Care: Do We Really Need More Data" University of Illinois, Chicago, Institute of Government and Public Affairs Policy Seminar. November 2004.

Featured presenter at The Fourth National Quality Health Care for Culturally Diverse Populations, Washington, DC September 28-October 1, 2004.

Featured presentation: “National Initiatives to Close the Gap” at The Role of New Jersey Hospitals in Eliminating Healthcare Disparities, Princeton, NJ, June 28, 2004.

“Collection of Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language Data in Hospitals: Barriers and Facilitators,” at AcademyHealth's 2004 Annual Research Meeting, San Diego, CA, June 6-8, 2004.

“Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care Treatment,” at Racial and Ethnic Healthcare Disparities Roundtable Harvard University Civil Rights Projects and Health Systems Studies, Boston, MA, May 18, 2004.

“Collection and Use of Racial and Ethnic Data by Health Plans to Address Disparities,” at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Washington, DC, May 6, 2004

Resources

The Changing Face of Race: Risk Factors for Neonatal Hyperbilirubinemia

Disparities Toolkit Resource

Institute for Diversity

Hablamos Juntos

New Issue Brief: Health Care Disparities Influenced by Where Minorities Seek Care

Issue Brief: Collecting Race, Ethnicity, and Primary Language Data

The AMA seeks to recognize hospitals leading the development of innovative approaches for patient-centered communication. For more information, please visit http://www.ama-assn.org/go/hospitalcall

National Health Law Program. For more information, please visit http://www.healthlaw.org

National Research Council of the National Academies released a new report on disparities, "Eliminating Health Disparities: Measurement and Data Needs"

National Association of Health Data Organizations www.nahdo.org released their summer 2004 newsletter highlighting HRET's work on disparities and its alignment to NAHDOs work.

National Public Health and Hospital Institute www.nphhi.org released a new executive summary, Serving Diverse Communities in Hospitals and Health Systems: From the Experience of Public Hospitals and Health Systems

National Academy of Sciences: Workshop on Improving Racial and Ethnic Data in Health

PolicyLink Health Disparities Team, PolicyLink 2002
Reducing Health Disparities Through a Focus on Communities

AHA's Disparities Background and Research Web Page

Worlds Apart ~ A Four-Part Series on Cross-Cultural Healthcare (VHS, 47 min.)
By Maren Grainger-Monsen, MD, and Julia Haslett, Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics