5199.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000: 2:30 PM-4:00 PM | ||||
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| The marked racial and ethnic differences in health status that persist in our country have drawn national attention. The President’s Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health calls for better data collection efforts and uses of data to document disparities and measure progress. More specifically, it recommends uniformly reported data on all racial and ethnic groups to accurately reflect the needs of the community and demonstrate the necessity of addressing health disparities. This workshop will present mechanisms in Massachusetts and Boston to obtain racial and ethnic specific data along with approaches to ensure that data are effectively employed to promote the elimination of health disparities. It will highlight the Boston Public Health Commissions’ strategies for collecting racial/ethnic specific data as well as neighborhood specific data. These data have provided the city of Boston with necessary information for allocating resources to address issues of health access and existing disparities. The University of Massachusetts’ Cultural Competence Technical Assistance Team will present on their health disparities research efforts undertaken on behalf of the Massachusetts Department of Medical Assistance (DMA). This research will be utilized by the DMA to better serve and understand the needs of minority populations insured through Medicaid and ultimately increase Medicaid enrollment. In addition, the Team will present preliminary data from an innovative study aimed at examining access to health care among Latinos, who have been found to be the group most likely to lack health insurance, both nationally and in Massachusetts | ||||
| See individual abstracts for presenting author's disclosure statement. | ||||
| Learning Objectives: Refer to the individual abstracts for learning objectives | ||||
| Alba Cruz, PhD | ||||
| Health Disparities Data and Issues for Boston Phyllis D. Sims, MS | ||||
| Health Needs among Massachusetts’ Latinos, Blacks, and Asians and Their Use of Public Health Services Cortes Dharma E, PhD | ||||
| The Importance of Cultural Competence in Developing Health Disparities Research Agendas Elmer Freeman, MSW | ||||
| Sponsor: | Latino Caucus | |||
| Cosponsors: | Caucus on Refugee and Immigrant Health; Community Health Planning and Policy Development; Social Work; Socialist Caucus | |||