The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #63352

Elizabeth W. Jackson, Division of Health Promotion Statistics, CDC/NCHS, 3311 Toledo Road, Room 6320, Hyattsville, MD 20782, 301.458.4288, emw6@cdc.gov

In October 1997, the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB), introduced a revision to directive 15, resulting in a new standard for the collection and reporting of race and ethnicity data by federal agencies. This revision was the result of an effort to acknowledge and accurately identify the growing diversity of the United States population due to immigration and interracial unions. By the year 2003, all federal agencies are required to collect and report ethnicity data separate from race, identify five new single race categories and allow individuals to identify with more than one race. Healthy People 2010, the national prevention initiative for the next decade, utilizes over 190 different data sources to track the 400+ objectives set for individuals, medical practitioners, and institutions in the United States.

This paper provides an overview of the effect the revisions to OBM directive 15 has had on measuring Healthy People 2010 objectives. Since implementation of the new standard has been data source specific, Healthy People has modified the reporting of data for objectives on a staggered basis. On occasion, data have been made available for a single year based on both standards. While still early in the decade, such data will allow for comparability testing for specific objectives. These results will be presented with a emphasis on the changes in disparities among the racial and ethnic groups. A discussion of the difficulties that arose as a result of changes in race and ethnicity definitions and measurement will also be introduced.

Learning Objectives:


• Describe the effect of revised OMB 15 on Healthy People 2010.
• Identify areas of greatest change in race reporting.
• Identify measurement challenges unique to changes in race reporting.

Keywords: Healthy People 2000/2010, Reporting

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.