Data collection and analysis beyond broad racial and ethnic categories are critical to advancing health and equity. In March 2024, for the first time since 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) expanded its race and ethnicity standards to capture historically excluded communities, which will now be visible in federal data collection. This expansion will better reflect the nation’s diversity and lead to more equitable distribution of resources as well as more targeted interventions. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) has long advocated for expanded and more sophisticated data collection, funding research to enhance policies and practices that encourage data disaggregation. More recently, RWJF’s National Commission to Transform Public Health Data Systems identified nuanced data collection as pivotal to developing an equity-centered public health data system. 

On May 17,2024, RWJF convened a roundtable discussion with the following experts to assess what the updated OMB race and ethnicity standards mean for census data, public health data, and beyond: 

• Tina Kauh, senior program officer at RWJF (moderator) 
• Ninez Ponce, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research 
• Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute 
• Meeta Anand, senior director for Census and data equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights 

The panelists also discussed steps needed for robust implementation with broad adoption and highlighted states that are at the forefront of equity-centered data collection that can serve as models for other states. We hope that this conversation, provided here in its entirety, offers useful insights into the updated OMB standards and how they will help paint a more complete picture of the nation’s health—advancing the urgent work required to achieve health equity. 

Health Equity, Vol. 8, No. 1 (June 2024).