Kaiser Permanente Launches Web Content About Health Care Disparities

The issue of health care disparities – gaps or inequities in the quality of health across racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups – is a national problem, and Kaiser Permanente has launched a collection of online information and resources, at www.kp.org/healthdisparities, to advance the discussion about ending such disparities in the United States.

Part of the organization's Community Benefit Web site, the Health Care Disparities content includes facts, resources, and links to more information about the topic. Fact sheets detail health care disparities information from third-party sources such as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Commonwealth Fund, and others.

It's designed to be a central source for research and news on health disparities and a resource for news about efforts from academia, government, advocates, and health care providers to study and solve health disparities in America.

Examples of these disparities include:

• More that 50 percent of Americans and 75 percent of Californians without health care coverage are people of color.
• African-American children are more likely to suffer an asthma crisis and die from one.
• Hispanic Americans are more likely to be diagnosed with diabetes and suffer complications like blindness and kidney failure.
• Asian Americans are more likely to be diagnosed and go untreated for Hepatitis C.

The section includes an op-ed about the topic that Chairman and CEO George Halvorson wrote in 2007 to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day and offer that addressing health care disparities is a critical remaining piece in the American civil rights agenda. "The evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in health care is shocking in a society committed to equality," Halvorson wrote.

Browse the health care disparities content for more information.

November 13, 2008 Kaiser Permanente News Center