Addressing Health Disparities: Case Study

Community Health 349

Article Review 1 "Challenges to Using a Business Case for Addressing Health Disparities"

The major points concerning the challenges to using a business case for addressing health disparities begins with the challenge of quantifying both the business case and the social case for addressing disparities. Sound business and quality improvement principles can guide health care organizations seeking to reduce disparities. Interventions may help focus resources and engage health care and community partners who can share in the costs of, and the gains from such efforts. Racial and ethnic problems when it comes to health and health care interventions is one health disparity. In the health care system the lack of proper data on race and ethnicity has become a problem in the quality of care. Self reported data can take years and requires changes to an already complex infrastructure. However some health plans and hospitals started collecting their own race/ethnicity data and have detected disparities. This has seriously delayed the developement of interventions. Information is not properly obtained, therefore there is no
Information on what works is slow to obtain. Once the disparities in quality are documented we still lack the tools to estimate what it takes to reduce the disparities. No for certain evidence exists that improving quality, regardless of the disparities, generate a positive Return of Investment (ROI). In recent studies evidence was found of a positive Return on Investment (ROI) for intervention to better improve the quality for some diseases (Congestive Heart Failure) evidence for a positive Return on Investment (ROI) for bettering quality care for other conditions is