National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD) and a summary of legislative data addressing health disparities

Eliminating health disparities is a primary goal of Healthy People 2010, a statement of national health objectives designed to identify the most significant preventable health threats and to establish national goals for reducing them. Most researchers agree that many of the causes of health disparities are rooted in society-level policies and norms. Therefore, state laws serve as an essential tool for raising awareness of inequities in cancer incidence, morbidity, and mortality, and for addressing their causes by promoting cancer awareness, ensuring access to screening and treatment, and reducing environmental and behavioral risk factors. This poster will present the results of a qualitative analysis of state laws that address the problem of cancer disparities.

Data from the National Cancer Institute's State Cancer Legislative Database (SCLD) were analyzed to identify the nature and extent of state laws and resolutions, effective as of December 31, 2007, addressing cancer disparities. Preliminary results reveal a focus on prevention and the provision of treatment services for cancer disparities populations. Thirty-one states have enacted legislation relating to reducing environmental and behavioral risk factors, 30 states have enacted legislation addressing treatment reimbursement, and 27 states have enacted laws addressing treatment programs. By contrast, only ten states have enacted legislation relating to screening reimbursement. Understanding state policy efforts will be critical to assessing progress toward improving health outcomes for disparities populations.

This poster will also detail the types of health disparities legislation included in SCLD and provide an illustration of the potential uses and applications of SCLD data.