Report Highlights Efforts of Nine Facilities in Eliminating Healthcare Disparities

A February 2012 American Hospital Association (AHA) report, Eliminating Health Care Disparities: Implementing the National Call to Action Using Lessons Learned, examines how collecting patients' demographic data, expanding cultural competency training, and increasing diversity among health leadership can help reduce disparities in care delivery. The report, which highlights case studies from nine healthcare organizations, is a follow-up study for an antidisparities coalition launched in July 2011 by AHA, the Association of American Medical Colleges, the American College of Healthcare Executives, the National Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems, and the Catholic Health Association of the United States. One facility featured in the report, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, started an initiative to improve care for patients in the largely Hispanic neighborhoods of Washington Heights and Inwood in New York City. The effort included a four-hour training program for staff to help address patients' cultural, language, and literacy needs.