Federal Publications

General Accounting Office: Health Care: Approaches to Address Racial and Ethnic Disparities

A briefing assembled by the General Accounting Office (GAO) for Senator Bill Frist is available. The briefing outlined disparities found among racial and ethnic minority groups, identified by the government as American Indians or Alaska Natives, Asians, Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, and Native Hawaiians or other Pacific Islanders, and noted that they tend to receive a lower quality of health care than nonminorities, even when factors such as income and insurance coverage are taken into account. The report concluded that the elimination of racial and ethnic health care disparities is a major challenge in the United States. It also noted that programs under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) play a major role in providing and financing health care for minority groups and identified the six areas of focus:

• cancer screening and management
• cardiovascular disease
• diabetes
• HIV infection/AIDS
• immunizations
• infant mortality

Click here to download the report. (PDF)