The health care gap
August 20th, 2005 by RespiteMatch.comCommunity leaders are responding to studies on disparities.
(August 19, 2005) — Who hasn’t heard complaints, or complained themselves, about the way the nation’s health care system seems to be heading downward amid unrelenting cost-cutting efforts? Perception, maybe. But it’s one shared by many Americans in this community and nationwide.
Now imagine if you’re an African American or Hispanic. Studies show consumer problems with the health care system are compounded because of race or ethnicity.
Three new studies show the health care gap persists between African Americans and white people. Previous studies also found similar gaps between Hispanics and whites.
Fortunately, in the Rochester region, as this page has pointed out in the past, aggressive measures are being undertaken to correct the situation. As a result of being prodded by Monroe County Health Commissioner Dr. Andrew Doniger, since January Unity Health system has been collecting racial data to help improve its quality assurance programs.
A local report released two years ago found, for example, that the chances of African Americans dying from cancer were higher than that of members of Monroe County’s overall population. So the data being collected by Unity at its Park Ridge Hospital can go far to help local health care leaders devise social, economic and cultural solutions to the health care gaps.
Already Rochester General Hospital’s Clinton Family Health Center, for example, is making progress. All new hires, from secretaries to physicians, must be bilingual. The requirement helps ensure better services to the center’s predominately Hispanic patients.
Now that study after study confirms disparities in health care provided to people of color, it’s reassuring that this community is starting to take the problem seriously.
