Health Care Challenges Facing Urban Communities:

Assuring Access to Care

Health Challenges Facing Urban Communities: Assuring Access to Care focuses on another barrier to health care that threatens to increase racial disparities in health status - the impact of competitive market forces on vulnerable urban communities. The report also addresses critical health issues that urban hospitals and health systems face in today's health care system.

Since 1997, when site visits and data collection for this study were conducted, market turbulence has escalated, underscoring the findings in the report. In the past year, markets have become more turbulent, providers more destabilized and access by poor and minority populations more threatened.

The report, which was supported by a grant from The Commonwealth Fund, provides 'lessons learned' and recommendations for building strategies to reduce the impact of competitive forces on urban health providers, while improving health care access for poor, urban populations.

To obtain a copy of the report, contact the HSC Foundation at (202) 454-1224, or send email to caustin@cscn.org.