Resources 

• Access to Health Care
• Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions
• General Health Disparities
• Health Provider Issues
• Juvenile Justice System
• Men of Color
• Social Determinants of Health
• Tools for Advocates
• Tools for Journalists
• Other Resources and Opportunities 

Access to Health Care:

• Madeline Drexler, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow wrote Why Children Need SCHIP. This article examines the many benefits of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). (September 2007)
  
• Wrong Direction: One out of Three Americans Are Uninsured shows that approximately 89.6 million Americans-more than one out of three people (34.7 percent) under age 65-were uninsured at some point during 2006-2007. There were huge disparities in the uninsured rate based on race and ethnicity: Among people under age 65, 60.7 percent of Hispanics and 44.5 percent of non-Hispanic blacks were uninsured at some point in the last two years, compared to 26.0 percent of non-Hispanic whites. Press Release | en español (September 2007)
  
• Madeline Drexler, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow, wrote How Racism Hurts—Literally. This article examines the effects racism has on one's health. (July 2007)
  
• Confronting Disparities while Reforming Health Care: A Look at Massachusetts examines how state advocates were able to build on expansion efforts and address the host of issues that affect disparities in health and health care. Includes an extensive discussion of lessons that can be learned from the Massachusetts experience. (June 2007)
  
• SCHIP and Children's Health Coverage: Leveling the Playing Field for Minority Children examines the important role that SCHIP plays in reducing disparities in access to care, as well as how the SCHIP reauthorization process can be used to further this effort. (December 2006)
  
• New Medicaid Regulations Discriminate against U.S.-Born Children of Immigrants focuses on a specific provision of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), which has established regulations for citizenship documentation requirements for Medicaid. This provision creates an arbitrary and harmful distinction between children who are born in the U.S. to immigrants versus those born to citizens. (August 2006)
  
• Citizenship Update: Administration Creates Additional Barriers to Medicaid Enrollment addresses several important questions regarding the citizenship documentation requirement for Medicaid under the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), including what advocates can do to help mitigate the potential harm caused by the requirement. (June 2006)
  
• "Reforming" Medicaid: How State Waivers Will Hurt Racial and Ethnic Minorities examines the potentially negative impact that recently proposed changes to the South Carolina and Florida Medicaid programs will have on minority health. This issue brief also explores the role of Medicaid in improving access to health care for racial and ethnic minorities and analyzes the threat that state Medicaid waivers pose to the health of minority populations. (November 2005)
  
• Medicaid Responsiveness, Health Coverage, and Economic Resilience: A Preliminary Analysis discusses the serious repercussions of a policy proposal that would cap federal Medicaid spending. The analysis points out that there would be 52 million uninsured individuals in the United States if Medicaid had been capped in 1999, which is 6 million more than the current uninsured population of 46 million. The report argues that Medicaid should be made more responsive to economic changes, which could help to avoid deeper and longer recessions. (September 27, 2005)
  
• Medicaid and Minority Health: Why Cutting Medicaid Will Exacerbate Health Disparities analyzes the relationship between Medicaid and minority health, explores the causes of racial and ethnic health disparities, and examines how recent proposals to cut Medicaid will worsen these disparities. (February 11, 2005)
  
• How Will Association Health Plans Affect Minority Health? Separating Fact from Fiction analyzes the real impact that Association Health Plans (AHPs) will have on the health care access of uninsured racial and ethnic minorities. (February 2005)
  
• Cut Medicaid—Increase Health Disparities: How Cuts to "Optional" Beneficiaries Will Affect Minority Health explores the lack of true distinction between mandatory and so-called ”optional" enrollees. It also analyzes how proposed Medicaid cuts that target "optional" enrollees will exacerbate health disparities because they will have a disproportionate impact on the health care and health outcomes of racial and ethnic minorities, particularly African American seniors in nursing homes. (February 9, 2005)

(back to top)

Disabilities and Chronic Health Conditions:

• This report summarizes presentations made during the People of Color Strand at the 2005 TASH Conference in 2005.  The issue of disabilities in communities of color have gone undressed, especially for African Americans. This report highlights health, educational and community/social service issues and challenges faced by people of color with significant disabilities and their families.
  
• Changing the Landscape: Depression Screening and Management in Primary Care
  A look at the mental health treatment disparities among the many racial and ethnic health disparities that must be addressed and the effort by the NY City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to make depression screening and effective treatment of depression standard practice in all primary care settings throughout the city.
  
• Racial/Ethnic Differences in Body Mass Index, Morbidity and Attitudes Toward Obesity among U.S. Adults describes racial and ethnic differences by gender in body mass index (BMI). The study examines the relationship between current morbidity and BMI and also assesses racial and ethnic disparities in attitudes toward and perceptions about obesity. (August 2006, JNMA)
  
• Growing Racial Disparity in Breast, Colorectal Cancer Deaths over Past Decade reports that the mortality rate in the United States due to cancer is much higher among African Americans than whites, despite an overall decline in the rate of cancer deaths during the last several years. While the decline in cancer death rates is encouraging, the increasing disparity is cause for concern and highlights the particular importance of early cancer detection for African Americans. (August 2005)

(back to top)

General Health Disparities:

• NMA president Dr. Nelson Adams was interviewed for this article about health disparities between African Americans and whites. Health Care for Blacks Lacking? covers results from a recent study commissioned by Congress titled "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care." (February 11, 2008) 
• Kenneth Cooper, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow, wrote Blacks Still Face Disparities in Healthcare. Cooper's article provides a historical context for Offices of Minority health across the nation, and it emphasizes the importance of building a business case for reducing disparities. (Winter 2008)
  
• Madeline Drexler, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow wrote How Racism Hurts-Literally. This article examines what effects racism has on one's health. (July 2007)
  
• Kenneth Cooper, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow and senior editor for New England Ethnic News wrote Cheryl Boyce, National Minority-Health Leader, Talks About the Need for Behavior Change - Within the Healthcare System. Their interview examines health system changes, health disparities, and Ms. Boyce's personal experiences getting treatment for multiple myeloma.  (October 7, 2007).
  
• In "The American Prospect" article Health in Black and White, Madeleine Drexler, a Joint Center Fair Health Fellow, interviews sociologist David Williams about racial and socioeconomic disparities in health. (April 2007)
  
• Study of Racial Disparities in Healthcare is Flawed, Says NMA responds to a study released in the New England Journal of Medicine in which researchers claim that disparities in health care are insignificant compared to the overall low quality of care received by all patients. The NMA's response to the study cites the extensive body of literature that documents the pervasiveness of health care disparities. (March 2006)
  
• Racism in Medicine and Health Parity for African Americans: “The Slave Health Deficit” from the NMA’s Commission on Health Disparities examines the problem of unequal health status among African Americans in America. The report identifies some of the barriers to health parity and recommends corrective policy and culturally focused intervention strategies that can be adopted by the National Medical Association, its physician members, the communities they serve, and the nation as a whole. (2002)

(back to top)

Health Provider Issues:

• In response to a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Call for Papers, the NMA drafted and submitted a white paper on pay-for-performance (P4P). Click here to read the NMA position paper on pay-4-performance. (2006)
  
• HMO Employment and African-American Physicians assesses the level and determinants of African American physicians’ employment in health maintenance organizations (HMOs), particularly early in their careers. Such an analysis is significant because, in most sectors of the economy, larger organizations consistently provide better jobs, higher pay, and improved career prospects. In contrast, staff- and group-model HMOs from the time period of this study have been associated with resource and autonomy constraints, ranking low in remuneration, prestige, and stability. The study suggests that the over-representation of African American physicians in staff- and group-model HMOs may contribute to the inequalities they experience. (August 2006, The Journal of the National Medical Association (JNMA))
  
• Physicians’ Ethical Responsibilities in Addressing Racial and Ethnic Healthcare Disparities explores the ethical obligations of individual physicians and the medical profession in addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The article also discusses the need for physicians to recognize disparities and to critically examine their own practices to ensure that their clinical judgments are not adversely affected by issues of race and ethnicity. (August 2006, JNMA)
  
• Cultural Competence Primer is the National Medical Association’s guide to cultural competence and its role in the health care and social service fields. The guide focuses on defining cultural competence, describing how it affects health care, and suggesting how better cultural understanding can improve the health of diverse populations. In addition, the guide proposes a strategy for developing a national board for ethno-cultural medicine to improve health care delivery to people of color, and it provides recommendations for system-wide changes that could improve minority health. (2002)

(back to top)

Juvenile Justice System:

• Meeting the Health Needs of Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justice System
  A companion paper to the Dellum Commissions work. This report focuses on the critical health needs of youth in the juvenile justice system.

(back to top)

Men of Color:

• Men and Communities: African American Males and the Well-Being of Children, Families, and Neighborhoods investigates the extent to which the status, condition, and behavior of men influence the well-being of surrounding children, families, neighborhoods, and communities. This framework allows for further exploration into the factors that affect the development of men and how their development might affect the well-being of others. (2006)
  
• Young Men of Color in the Media: Images and Impacts focuses on the variety of ways that the media perpetuate negative impressions of young men of color. In addition, the report suggests possible reasons why young men of color are perpetuated in negative ways in the media and what can be done to ameliorate the situation. (2006)
  
• The Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Men of Color: Analyzing and Interpreting the Data critically examines and delineates the challenges associated with interpreting sexual and reproductive health data for young men of color. The report traces knowledge about the sexual and reproductive health of young men of color from outcomes to behavior and then discuses some of the complexities associated with studying the issue. (February 2006)

(back to top)

Social Determinants of Health:

• The Impact of Food Insecurity on the Development of Young Low-Income Black & Latino Children explores how higher rates of poverty in households with children can lead to food insecurity, a condition in which a household cannot obtain enough food for all household members to lead healthy and active lives. Food insecurity puts children at risk for developmental difficulties, such as failing to develop age-appropriate cognitive, language, and motor skills, and also can lead to behavioral and learning problems. (May 2006)

(back to top)

Tools for Advocates:

• Dare to Get Involved: How to Take Action: What can you do to help raise awareness about minority health policy issues, such as health disparities and uninsurance? Click here to find out!
  
• Working with the Faith Community: Reflections from a National Faith Leader is a tool for advocates that identifies several tips and practical strategies for engaging and working with the faith community around health care issues. Drawing from her work with congregations that represent communities of color, Barbara Baylor, Minister for Health and Wellness at the national office for the United Church of Christ, reflects on how to engage the faith community as an effective way to improve health care. (March 2006)
  
• Making Public Programs Work for Communities of Color: An Action Kit for Community Leaders is an Action Kit designed to provide community leaders with the information, tools, and resources necessary to engage in health advocacy and improve the health and well-being of their communities. (January 2006)

(back to top)

Tools for Journalists:

• Public Programs and Minorities: A Resource Kit for Journalists was created in an effort to provide journalists with the information, tools, and resources they need to report on important health care issues and their impact on the communities they serve. It includes an overview of public health programs, fact sheets on Medicaid, Medicare, and Latino health, quick facts on disparities in health, health care, and access, and additional resources for journalists. These resources are also available in Spanish.
  
• Health Disparities Conference Call for Journalists: Families USA hosted a conference call with author and journalist Madeline Drexler. Tailored for journalists, this call focused on Ms. Drexler's experience covering health disparities, tips and tools for journalists who cover this beat, and her past and current projects, including her Boston Globe article, How Racism Hurts-Literally. A replay of the call is now available online. RealPlayer (RealPlayer 8 or later) | Windows Media (Windows Media Player 9 or later) (October 26, 2007)

(back to top)

Other Resources and Opportunities:

• Minority Health Connection is a monthly e-newsletter designed to keep advocates connected to the most pressing issues affecting minority health. Sections include the latest resources in minority health, the impact of health policy issues on communities of color, and highlights from activists in the field who are addressing racial and ethnic health disparities. Click here to begin receiving this monthly publication.
  
• Fair Health Journalism Fellowship
  In keeping with the Alliance's goal to build and maintain a comprehensive network of print and broadcast journalists, The Joint center Health Policy Institute launched its "Fair Health Journalism Fellowship". HPI's Fellows will write newspaper op-eds and other articles and will report on promising interventions and policies that can reduce health inequities. Articles derived from these pieces will be aimed at an informed, mainstream reading audience, and will be published in general interest magazines and newspapers. Journalism Fellows will complete magazine stories and numerous shorter op-eds and informational articles on health disparities in the form of narrative journalism that highlight major events, news stories, and "think" pieces analyzing current trends. This is a one year fellowship. All Fellowship positions have been filled at this time. For more information on the fellowship program, please contact Carla Gullatt, Director of Operations and Outreach Office of Health, Women and Families, The Joint Center for Political & Economic Studies at cgullatt@jointcenter.org.
  
• Joint Center Scholar Leads Fair Health Movement announces a grant awarded to the Joint Center to create the Health Policy Institute, a specialized research institute designed to focus attention on key health policy issues that affect African Americans and other minority communities. The announcement highlights the work of the Institute's leader, Dr. Gail Christopher, and her important role in both the black community and the minority health field. (October 2005)
  
• Focus: A Magazine of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies is a regular publication from the Joint Center. The September/October 2005 edition introduces the Health Policy Institute and contains articles that primarily focus on health issues that affect communities of color. (September/October 2005)

(back to top)