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AHRQ Report Highlights Health Care Quality, Access Disparities Gap
A new report published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) finds that health care disparities across at least 60 percent of quality measures stayed the same or worsened between 2000 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, AHA News Now reports. The National Healthcare Disparities Report takes into account 220 quality measures pertaining to effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness and patient centeredness, focusing on 45 core measures. Outlining three overarching conclusions, the report suggests that disparities persist in health care quality and access, that the magnitude and pattern of disparities vary within subpopulations, and that some disparities exist across multiple priority populations. However, the group also reports a reduction in some disparities. For example, the rate of deaths per 1,000 discharges with complications potentially resulting from care for African-American patients declined between 2000 and 2005, and the gap between African-American and white patients on that measure decreased to the point that African Americans have better outcomes than whites. Meanwhile, saying that patient experience is an important indicator of health care quality but noting that many minorities report poor provider-patient communication, the report suggests that addressing disparities will "require special attention to cultural attitudes and perceptions that affect health behaviors and patterns of health care access and utilization." (AHA News Now, 5/6/09; AHRQ report; HHS release, 5/6/09)