The inherent structure of the Aligning Forces initiative is a major strength of its approach to disparities reduction: multi-stakeholder coalitions of consumers, providers, and payers are vital to reducing regional health and health care disparities.
In 2009, the excess health care costs associated with disparities were estimated at $60 billion. A review of health quality data shows race and ethnicity continue to impact a patient’s chance of receiving specific procedures and treatments. For about 40 percent of quality measures, Blacks received worse care than Whites, and Hispanics received worse care than non-Hispanic Whites.
In Detroit, community leaders developed an electronic toolkit organizations can use to increase and improve self-reported race, ethnicity and preferred language (REL) data collection for use in identifying and measuring health and health care disparities. Identifying hypertension as a major concern for African Americans in metro-Detroit, leaders also launched a “peer-to-peer storytelling” video project aimed at improving blood pressure control among African American patients with hypertension.
