Health and Human Services (HHS) Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health
Disparities Report
Introduction
Health disparity can basically be defined as the variance that signals underprivileged social groups. A good example of this are the poor and other marginal groups in the society who have continually experienced social drawbacks and they also experience inferior health threats as compared to other more privileged social groups. When the term is practically used in an ethnic viewpoint, it describes the augmented existence and brutality of certain illnesses and poorer health consequences as an outcome of struggle in attaining health care services for some races. Though these methodical obstacles in the health care sector are preventable, they still continue to be vibrant and they have come to be generally known as health variations. As a local public health professional, I believe that understanding the routine in which race, culture, geography, education and revenue influences a person’s admittance to health services can significantly offer valuable perceptions to health policy specialists as well as supporters.
HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities Report
The report by the US department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that was published in 2011 converses the issue of racial health disparities and effective actions plans that can help to reduce the issue. HHS report summaries some of the objectives as well as engagements that will be taken by HHS to aid decrease and also eradicate both racial and ethnic inequalities within US and realize one of its aims of transforming heath care. This report is a good illustration that US government recognizes these element that the health of the subgroups within the US endures to delay behind as associated to that of the whites something that is ethically wrong. It is important to note that even though racial and ethnic subgroups only signify a third of the US population, more than half of 50 million uninsured citizens of US are all from ethnic subgroups which is a good illustration of the ethnic health disparities within US (Williams & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). The HHS report does a great job at describing the concept of ethic health disparity and the range to which it exists in US citing specific examples. A good illustration of this is the fact that African Americans happen to be a third less likely to have a bypass surgical procedure as compared to the whites, the African American child are less likely to receive asthma drugs than the white children all because of the race differences (Williams & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). The report indicates that ethnic minorities have poorer overall health and they tend to experience more severe forms of ailments for instance cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma and kidney failures among others those results in shortened life spans for them (HHS, 2011). I find the facts presented by these report valid, cardiovascular diseases for instance in current day accounts for the largest proportion of inequality life expectancy between African Americans and whites. Studies that have been conducted in relation to life expectancy between various races show that African Americans, the Hispanics, the Asian Americans and the American Indians among others have a higher mortality rates as compared to the whites in the US.
Contributors to ethnic health disparities and HHS action plan to resolve them
Language barrier
One problem that is reflected in the HHS report that contributes to the ethnic health disparity is the issue of language barrier. It is estimated that over 24 million adult Americans have limited proficiency in the English language that is widely used in the medical sector (Williams & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). This is a problem because it makes the 10 to 15 minutes doctor’s consultation often less effective and it can hence results in harm to the patient and it also leads to increased health system costs. This issue also creates a system in which the minority populations do not get reached, informed or even encouraged to seek the correct preventive measures or even the required medical treatment for various health problems. In regard to this problem, the HHS plans to create an online national registry of interpreters that can be used by hospitals and the physicians to help deal with the patients that cannot effectively communicate in English (HHS, 2011). This is an effective strategy given that it will involve trusted local people who will act as the community health workers and they will greatly help the patients to navigate the online system and also adhere to the various treatments that are given. As a local public health professional, this will be very beneficial for me because most of the problems that I observe in the society is the way that doctors, nurses and other health staff struggle to communicate with patients both at the hospitals and even when they are doing their rounds in the society. Sometimes they find it very difficult to communicate with some of the patients because they cannot explain their symptoms or health problems in English. Most of the programs that I have tried to develop to deal with the issue of language barrier have not been effective because it always involve engaging people who are not medically trained to take up the role of interpreters. I believe that having trained interpreters in the public health facility will make it much easier not to mention ethically upright to attend to the society irrespective of the ethnic differences.
Another strategy that have been indicated by HHS to help deal with the issues of ethnic health disparities in regard to the above raised issues is the training and recruitment of more individuals from the minority groups within US into both medical and public health sectors because they are very few at the moment. As of the year 2008, the population rates of Hispanic physicians were only at 6% even with the population of the Hispanics in US being 16% all through the US (Weinstein & García, 2017). This is a very effective strategy that will greatly help to reduce the disparities because with a reasonable percentage of medical professionals, it will ease the issue of communication a well as education on the minority groups. Having more physicians coming from the minority groups will make it much easier and convenient to educate the minority groups on issues of health and it will also be easy for them accept and relate to what they are taught given that it comes from one of their own. This will motivate the minority groups to go for frequent check-ups which will help reduce mortality rates since it is always easier to treat a condition at its early stages instead of waiting up until when it’s too late.
The HHS is effective in its plan on helping to reduce the health disparities based on ethnic back grounds. The strategies that it has put in place for instance the plan to recruit and train more people from the minority groups is effective because it will motivate the minority groups to take more concern in matters of health. In reference to this recruitment the report indicates that financial plans will be put in place including loan offers as well as scholarships for students from the minority groups that wish to pursue medical related courses. This is an effective plan because most of the minority suffer in poverty not having enough funding for their education as compared to the whites which greatly contributes to the ethnic health disparities (Weinstein & García, 2017). Having more medical experts coming from a range of ethnical diversities will be very beneficial to the whole course of eliminating ethnic health disparities. It will help increase the range of patients that we as the medics are able to attend to in a day not to mention that it will help to ease the issue of communication between the patients that cannot fluently communicate in English because the physicians from various ethnicities can easily communicate with the patients that do not understand English.
Insurance coverage
The reports greatly acknowledge the issue of insurance coverage as a great contributor to the ethnic health disparity. Health insurance coverage greatly varies between racial and ethnic groups within the US (Williams & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). African Americans as well as the people from the Hispanic origins tend to have lower insurance coverage rates as compared to the whites. This issue of insurance coverage rates is a great contributor to the ethnic health disparities where the minority races are less likely to be insured all throughout their adulthood as compared to the whites who are the majority groups (Bolnick, 2015). Without the insurance coverage, the minority groups face great barriers in receiving the health care services because most of the health care providers require insurance coverage from their patients. Most of the minority populations that lack insurance coverage are as a result of being unemployed and also as a consequence of language barrier and immigration rules that prevent the immigrants that are not documented from enrolling in any public plans and this includes insurance coverage.
To help deal with this issue the HHS report plans to offer subsidies that will help the lower income earning families that happen not to have employer benefits affordable private insurance plans. This is effective because it will help to expand eligibility beyond children as well as the medically needy and it will eventually help to reduce the insurance rates among the low income adults from the minority ethnic populations (HHS, 2011). The report illustrates that policies will be put in place for insurance coverage in both private and public sectors to expand eligibility regardless of whether one is a student, employed, or ethnical backgrounds which will greatly help to increase enrolment among ethnic minorities. Education is an important toll in helping to deal with the issue of insurance coverage and hence every insurance coverage agency will be required to offer grants to various selected organizations that will help establish navigator programs that will help raise awareness in matters of health insurance (HHS, 2011). The navigators will help provide information to the general population in a manner that is culturally and linguistically appropriate to the needs of the population that is being served. This is a very strategic approach because by first educating the society about insurance covers, it will help them understand the importance of insurance covers and the process of acquiring these covers because the largest population lack the insurance covers because they do not know the process and the importance of these covers (Bolnick, 2015). It will also greatly impact us as the health service providers because we are not left with the bad choice of not attending to a patient all because they do not have an insurance cover and they cannot afford to pay for their hospital bill. The insurance covers for all people regardless of their race will help ease medical services and help improve overall society health.
Access to primary care
Some of the main reasons that have contributed to the great ethnic health disparities rates as indicated in the HHS report include lack of access to primary care and also low quality care in minority populations. This fact is true and it is disturbingly even reflected in infant outcomes where the racial disparities in infant mortality, still births and preterm births within the US have remained to be consistent over the past 50 years. The stillbirth rates in African Americans is double that of the whites and the African American new-borns are more likely to die in the rate of 1.5 to 3 times more as compared to the whites (Price et al., 2013).
The report indicates that access to timely primary care is major issue that also contributes to the racial and ethnic health disparities. Access to medical facilities in some areas is very difficult because of their locations, people have to travel long distances just to get to a hospital which is really discouraging. The report plans to provide support for the establishment of new health centres in the areas that are still underserved which will greatly improve comprehensive, culturally competent primary and preventing health care services (HHS, 2011). The report also indicates that it will offer loan repayments for the medical practitioners that offer to go and work in these underserved regions which will act as a motivation strategy. This is a very effective strategy because by offering this incentive, the medical practitioners will be encouraged to go and offer their services in these regions that are always underserved will play a great role in reducing the ethnical disparities in health.
Community and environmental factors
The HHS report acknowledges that health disparities are also driven by both community and environmental factors. Environmental factors for instance air and water are significant determinants of the health and well-being of people in the society. his environmental factors can lead to disease as well as health disparities when the places that various people stay, go to work, go to school and play are troubled with social discriminations (Price et al., 2013). The social inequities can basically be defined to be the differences among individual behaviors, cultural impacts, admittance to health services, economic prominence and levels of education.
These environmental health disparities are relevant in the ethnic health disparity because they exist when minority communities are exposed to a combination of poor environmental quality and social inequities. This leads them to have more sicknesses and diseases as compared to the superior communities that live and dwell in less polluted communities and settings (Price et al., 2013). The report understands the effects that environmental factors have on ethnic health disparities and plans to improve the vaccination rates by ensuring that grants are offered to help support community level efforts to deliver culturally appropriate immunization interventions. The report also indicates that plans will be made to ensure that disease prevention programs are implemented placing special emphasis reaching the people that experience the greatest burden of death, disability and suffering from chronic diseases (HHS, 2011). The programs will address a broad range of risk factors and conditions including poor nutrition, use of tobacco which will help to reduce cases of heart attacks, cancer and strokes among other health issues that greatly affect the minority.
Transparency and accountability
It is important for any program that relate to the wellbeing of the society to be transparent and also accountable in order to help all members of the society to feel secure and to trust the system. At the moment, the largest population of the minority groups have lost trust in the health care system because they have experienced the high discriminative rates of the system (Williams & Purdie-Vaughns, 2016). The society does not understand what happens in the health sector and why some people get easy access to treatment while others do not because the public is not given a chance to air their thoughts on the health system and its performance. HHS reports support the culture of information sharing and this includes tracking the performance measures that are existent and other government data that is on the health system indicators and ensuring that they are made available for the public (HHS, 2011). I believe that this is a very strategic plan that will help the health sector to be more responsible and conscious of any of their actions that could be biased and leading to the ethnic health disparities.
Recommendations to Local Health Officer
This report is very beneficial for us as the local health department who are charged with the role of ensuring that every individual irrespective of their race acquires maximum medical care without any form of biasness. Race and ethnicity should not really be a pre-existing health condition issue within the US. The government of US and us as the local health department need to ensure that all citizens irrespective of race are offered equal opportunities to help reach their full health potential and this report can help to achieve this.
Limitations to the report
One limitation that can be pointed out in regard to this report is in the issue of finances that will be required to implement all this plans. The report has not really given a monetary figure for all the strategies that have been proposed and this is inclusive of the grants that are devoted to the health of ethnic minorities. The report needs to give some financial overview of how all the plans that have been cited will be accomplished in order to help eliminate ethnic health disparities effectively. Another limitation to the report is that it only acknowledges the fact that health disparity is a complex issue that is linked closely to the social, economic and environmental disadvantages without really giving any viable solutions. One of the best ways that this issue can be tackled is through a collaborative effort with other governmental sectors for instance the education sector. A big emphasis should be put on education because research has persistently shown its link with overall health. At the moment, the lowest income US communities consistently have the lowest determinants as well as educational scores.
References
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Need for Anthropological and Genetic Perspectives in Medical Training. Human Biology, 87(4), 361–371. https://doi.org/10.13110/humanbiology.87.4.0361
HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities: A Nation Free of
Disparities in Health and Health Care. (2011). PsycEXTRA Dataset, 1-46. doi:10.1037/e553842012-001
Price, J. H., Khubchandani, J., McKinney, M., & Braun, R. (2013). Racial/Ethnic Disparities
in Chronic Diseases of Youths and Access to Health Care in the United States. BioMed Research International, 2013, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/787616
Weinstein, J. M., & García, R. (2017). Reducing Health Disparities and Promoting Health
Equity. Parks & Recreation, 52(5), 40–41. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=122852023&site=ehost-live
Williams, D. R., & Purdie-Vaughns, V. (2016). Needed Interventions to Reduce
Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Health. Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, 41(4), 627–651. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-3620857
