#TBT: National Minority Health Month & Health Equity

As part of our “Throwback Thursday” blog series, we’re taking a look at a topic that’s currently in the news and tagging it with previous research, videos or commentaries in a relevant way. As the saying goes, “what’s old is new again” – and we hope you enjoy our wonky twist on #TBT.

April is National Minority Health Month, an opportunity to raise awareness about the health disparities that continue to affect racial and ethnic minorities in this country, and to focus attention on strategies and efforts to advance health equity. Approximately 36.3 percent of the U.S. population reported belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group in 2010, making this is a health issue potentially affecting huge numbers of patients every year.

A 2010 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality fact sheet, Disparities in Healthcare Quality Among Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups, highlights the health challenges that we need to address:

• Health care quality and access are suboptimal, especially for minority and low-income groups.
• Quality is improving; access and disparities are not improving.
• Urgent attention is warranted to ensure improvements in quality and progress on reducing disparities with respect to certain services, geographic areas, and populations, including:
  • Cancer screening and management of diabetes.
  • States in the central part of the country.
  • Residents of inner-city and rural areas.

Research also has revealed disparities in pharmaceutical treatment for minority patients. A National Minority Quality Forum (NMQF) 2009 landmark publication, Origins and Strategies for Addressing Ethnic and Racial Disparities in Pharmaceutical Therapy: The Health-Care System, the Provider, and the Patient, (and our Throwback Thursday pick) reviewed multiple health conditions (i.e., asthma, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, depression, HIV/AIDS, pain) and showed profound impacts from disparities in medication use, adherence and response rates.

One of the key findings in the report is: “Ethnic/racial differences in response to medications have been reported, and these differences should be considered when prescribing medications and dosages, constructing formularies, and setting administrative procedures.”

The differences in how patients respond to treatments are known as “heterogeneity,” or “individual treatment effects.” Each person is unique due to a multitude of factors (e.g., racial/ethnic backgrounds, age, genetics, chronic conditions, disease severity, gender, environment, personal preferences), and these factors affect how a patient may respond to a certain treatment. While the “average patient” may respond best to a particular treatment, some patients may experience little to no benefit from it, so other treatment options may be best for them. Learning more about patient differences and providing the information and flexibility needed to enable health care providers and patients to make the best treatment choices are critical to quality health care. And because minorities generally are under-represented in clinical trials, the efforts of the Clinical Trial Engagement Network (www.ctengagementnetwork.com) are also important toward improving the quality of health care for minority patients.   

NPC President Dan Leonard will address the concept of heterogeneity at an NMQF and the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust’s summit, “The March Toward Health Equity,” where he’ll moderate the Health Policy Town Hall discussion, “Biodiversity and Health Care Quality: The 21st Century Challenge,” on April 20, 2015 at 6:15 p.m. ET at the Ritz-Carlton Washington, DC.  You must register for the conference to attend. To register, visit NMQF’s website or contact Gretchen Wartman at 202-223-7560.