Resource Incorporates Evolving Understanding of the Nature and Etiology of Disparities

April 7, 2008

Racial and Ethnic Disparities in U.S. Health Care: A Chartbook [, 715KB] offers a set of data and discussion intended to help policymakers, teachers, researchers, and practitioners begin to understand disparities in their communities and to formulate solutions. The chartbook, published by the Commonwealth Fund, is divided into seven chapters. Topics include changes in the U.S. population by race and ethnicity, income, and language; disparities in a number of the focus areas of the Healthy People 2010 initiative; the challenges minority Americans face in receiving needed health care (including both primary and specialized care); why insurance coverage varies by race and ethnicity; existing racial and ethnic disparities across the domains of quality articulated by the Institute of Medicine; and strategies that may lessen or eliminate disparities in health and health care. Data, including infant mortality data, are presented in charts throughout the document. Explanatory notes about the data in the charts are provided in the chartbook.