Oral

This session will include discussion on the results of the needs assessment of the Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations and its policy implications on access to primary care in safety net communities. The Network of Ethnic Physician Organizations, established in 2002 by the California Medical Association Foundation, is a collaboration of 37 ethnic physician organizations working together to reduce the impact of health disparities in ethnic communities. The New Jersey Discharge Data Collection System, a comprehensive data set collected by hospitals at admission and during hospital stay, is a major source of data on patients’ race and ethnicity. Improved data of patients’ race, ethnicity and primary language will assist hospitals to better identify their health care disparities and develop culturally appropriate services and programs. Further presentations will include disparities in the length of hospital stay among minority patients, i.e., males and females, Medicaid patients with and without insurance, and patients in urban hospitals, teaching hospitals and large hospitals.

Session Objectives: Participants should be able to: Develop needs assessment and community-based research and learn how ethnic physician organizations can collectively address health disparity. Describe the uniform hospital discharge data set and identify the needs assessment strategies and processes used to identify issues and barriers in collecting these data. Identify factors associated with disparities in hospital length of stay and Acute MI treatments.

CE Credits: CME, Health Education (CHES), Nursing