December 2009

In this Issue:

• New Resources 
  • NEW MEDIA
  • FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES 
  • PUBLICATIONS
    
    
• Activities in the Field
  
  
• Policy Updates
  
  
• Upcoming Events

New Resources

NEW MEDIA:

• AHRQ and Diversity Rx hosted a webinar, Meds & LEP: Two Tablets...¿Pero Cuándo? Addressing Language Barriers in the Pharmacy, as part of their Your Voice initiative. This webinar examines the communication barriers that face patients with limited English proficiency and how these barriers affect their ability to understand and comply with medication regimes. The webinar also looks at initiatives in three states that are aimed at improving communication in pharmacies by increasing conversations with staff, using medication labels, and providing product information that is culturally and linguistically appropriate.
  
• The Urban Health Watch blog is part of the Rhode Island Prevention Block Grant, a program funded by the Rhode Island Department of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Urban Health Watch promotes dialogue on the elimination of health disparities, provides public health and medical information, and disseminates research findings and recommendations. Urban Health Watch also offers community health education and delivers culturally appropriate messages on health promotion and disease prevention.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES:

• The Office of Minority Health in the Department of Health and Human Services has made available a list of funding resources for non-profit organizations, researchers, students, and commercial vendors. The Web site also provides various tips and tools for grant writing, proposal writing, and capacity building.

PUBLICATIONS:

• Kaiser Family Foundation released a new issue brief, Health Reform and Communities of Color: How Might it Affect Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities?, which examines some of the key provisions of the federal health reform legislation that are likely to have a significant impact on people of color and highlights the specific provisions that focus on health disparities. A second brief, The Role of Health Coverage for Communities of Color, examines variations in health coverage by race and ethnicity and explores the role that coverage plays in improving access to health care services for communities of color.
  
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation published The Importance of Geographic Data Aggregation in Assessing Disparities in American Indian Prenatal Care, which explores whether national-level data on prenatal care utilization among American Indians and Alaska Natives conceals variations by location and disparities among sub-populations. The study recommends that geographically specific data be made available to health researchers and others interested in state-level comparisons in the future.
  
• National Council of La Raza recently released three fact sheets that guide people through how immigrant children and adults will benefit from health reform under the House health reform proposal. Another fact sheet looks at how immigrant adults will benefit from health reform under the Senate health reform proposal.
  
• The Commonwealth Fund’s new report,  Access to Care and Use of Preventive Services by Hispanics: State-Based Variations from 1991 to 2004, looks at state trends in the last decade concerning the use of preventive health care and access to physicians. The study finds that, in the 10 states examined, disparities were reduced in some instances but widened in others. The Commonwealth Fund also published Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Use of High-Volume Hospitals, which examines racial and ethnic disparities and treatment outcomes in high-volume hospitals. The researchers found that disparities in access to high-volume hospitals could result in significantly higher mortality rates for minority patients when compared to white patients.
  
• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Commission to Build a Healthier America recently published Breaking Through on the Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: An Approach to Message Translation. This issue brief suggests ways to develop messages and frame technical information about health disparities and social determinants into language that is accessible to a broad group of policy makers, leaders, and advocates.

[Return to top] 

Activities in the Field

The Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO)

For over twenty years, the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO) has pushed for policies and programs that improve health care services that are community driven, financially affordable, linguistically accessible, and culturally appropriate. AAPCHO is a national association that represents community health organizations dedicated to promoting advocacy, collaboration, and leadership to improve health care access and health status of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders (referred to collectively as AA & NHOPIs on the AAPCHO Web site and throughout the rest of this article) within the United States, its territories, and freely associated states.

The AAPCHO was established in 1987 by community health centers that primarily worked with medically underserved AA & NHOPIs. AAPCHO seeks to be a national voice that advocates for the unique and diverse health needs of AA & NHOPI communities and the community health providers that serve those needs.

AAPCHO works for the AA & NHOPI community and its member organizations in a variety of ways. For example, AAPCHO provides technical assistance on issues such as interpretation and translation, trainings, data, and other resources to help their member organizations better serve AA & NHOPI communities. AAPCHO’s programs are aimed at improving the health status of AA & NHOPIs, specifically those with chronic diseases such as cancer and diabetes, which disproportionately affect the AA & NHOPI population. In addition, AAPCHO develops, tests, and evaluates health education and promotion programs at the national level. AAPCHO also collaborates with other national and local organizations that serve communities of color to increase cultural competence and eliminate health disparities. AAPCHO and its partners also share their collective knowledge and experiences with policy makers at the national, state, and local levels.

Most recently, AAPCHO launched the Health Information Gateway: Diabetes, a new online diabetes information database for physicians, advocates, health educators, patients, and their families who need materials in languages frequently spoken in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

For more information about the Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations (AAPCHO), please contact Nina Agbayani Grewe at nagrewe@aapcho.org.

[Return to top]

Policy Updates

Health Care Reform Update

Health care reform continues to move forward. After the Thanksgiving recess, the Senate began debate on its proposed legislation to overhaul the nation’s current health care system. The Senate proposal, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, addresses issues related to disparities, such as data collection and language access. It also establishes prevention programs, which will help to reduce disparities and create healthier communities. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act also includes provisions that would reduce health insurance premiums for individuals and employers, making health coverage affordable for all Americans.

Reid plans to finish debate and vote on a final bill by Christmas. If the Senate passes its bill, the House and Senate bills will have to be reconciled into one document and voted on again in order to become law.

Upcoming Events

• Families USA: Health Action 2010—Minority Health Track
  January 28 – 30, 2010
  Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill, 400 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001
  Sponsor: Families USA
  For more information and to register click here.
  
• 4th Biannual Tribal Consultation Session
  January 26 – 28, 2010
  Roybal Campus, Building 19, Room B3, 1600 Clifton Rd., Atlanta, GA 30329
  Sponsor: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  For more information and to register click here.
  
• NHMA 14th Annual Conference: Health Care Transformation to Expand Prevention and Health Promotion for Hispanic Communities
  March 25 – 28, 2010
  Washington Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Rd., NW, Washington, DC 
  Sponsor: National Hispanic Medical Association
  For more information and to register click here.
  

 [Return to top]