Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change—An Update

18 Jan 2012

Updates from Finding Answers: Disparities Research for Change, a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, suggest promising strategies for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in care for depression, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Since 2005, Finding Answers has awarded and managed research grants totaling $8 million to health care organizations implementing interventions aimed at reducing disparities. The funds have been used to evaluate the interventions and their potential for real world implementation.

These program updates suggest that:

Crafting successful disparities interventions means intervening at multiple points in the continuum of care.
Some programs that aim to improve care for minority patients fail because they do not accurately assess a population’s needs and values.
Team-based care is one of the most consistently successful strategies to reduce disparities.
The updates include a Program Overview, a video with commentary from program leaders and researchers, and a Grants Portfolio that details the goals and strategies of the 33 Finding Answers research sites, which range from rural clinics and federally qualified health centers to academic medical centers, large health systems, and insurers.

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