The overall quality of care increased 2.8% for all Americans in 2005, according to The National Healthcare Disparities Report released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). But while there continue to be disparities in quality and access to care for ethnic and racial minorities, they are shrinking--except for Hispanics. The report, which evaluated disparities on 46 health care measures and 6 access measures, found that 59% of disparities measures were widening for Hispanics while 41% were decreasing. But among blacks, 58% of disparities were shrinking while 42% were increasing.
In an effort to help eliminate health disparities among minorities and the medically underserved, HHS announced this week several new initiatives, including $56.9 million in grants to support health disparities research and a minority health data portal to give researchers access to minority health data.
