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Defining And Implementing Health Information Technology Standards [September 30, 2005] Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships [September 29, 2005] Recommendations On Dental Hygiene's Future [September 28, 2005] Medical Technology Likely To Greatly Inflate Future Medicare Costs [September 27, 2005] Bioterrorism And Mass Casualty Preparedness In Hospitals [September 26, 2005] Patients Value Choice Of Providers [September 23, 2005] New Commission On Future Of Higher Education To Be Formed [September 22, 2005] Higher Education Act Passed By U.S. House [September 21, 2005] Information About Upcoming Interdisciplinary Research Consortium Program Of The NIH Roadmap [September 20, 2005] Advising Patients About Patient Safety [September 19, 2005] Student Aid Forgiveness Legislation Passed By U.S. House Of Representatives [September 16, 2005] Low Electronic Health Record Adoption Rates For Physician Groups [September 15, 2005] Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Competition And Other Factors Linked To Wide Variation In Health Care Prices [September 14, 2005] Widespread Adoption Of Health Information Technology Would Save Money And Prevent Medical Errors [September 13, 2005] Projections of Education Statistics To 2014 [September 12, 2005] Proposed Accreditation Features Of Higher Education Act Reauthorizing Legislation Compared With Current Law [September 9, 2005] Patient Safety [September 8, 2005] Advice About College From First-Generation Students [September 7, 2005] Preparing A Grant Application: Steps To Success [September 6, 2005] Department Of Education Regulatory Relief For Students And Institutions Affected By Hurricane Katrina [September 6, 2005] Census Bureau Report On The Uninsured [ September 6, 2005 ] National Report on Health Information Exchange [September 6, 2005] Issues In Men's Health Care [August 26, 2005] A Look At Working-Age Caregivers' Roles, Health Concerns, And Need For Support [August 25, 2005] New Report On Obesity Released [August 24, 2005] Comments Invited On Healthy People 2010 [August 23, 2005] Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the Long-Run Health Challenge [August 22, 2005] Increasing Success for Underserved Students: Redesigning Introductory Courses [August 19, 2005] Electronic Health Records: Synthesizing Recent Evidence And Current Policy [August 18, 2005] Number Of Public Hospitals Declining [August 17, 2005] Online Continuing Education Series On Complementary And Alternative Medicine [August 16, 2005] Medical Teamwork And Patient Safety: The Evidence-Based Relation [August 15, 2005] Experts On Global Nursing Shortage Provide Recommendations To Stem Crisis [August 12, 2005] Efforts to Enhance First Responders' All-Hazards Capabilities [August 11, 2005] Publicly Reporting Quality Information May Inadvertently Reduce Rather Than Improve Care Quality [August 10, 2005] A Policymaker's Primer On Education Research [August 9, 2005] Eliminating Disparities In Treatment And The Struggle To End Segregation [August 8, 2005] Defining And Implementing Health Information Technology Standards Health care delivery in the United States has long-standing problems with medical errors and inefficiencies that increase costs. Hence, health information technology (IT) has great potential to improve the quality of care, bolster preparedness of the U.S. public health infrastructure, and save money on administrative costs. The threats of natural disasters and terrorist attacks further underscore the need for interoperable The GAO report may be accessed by clicking http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d051054t.pdf. Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowships The Robert Wood Johnson Health Professionals Fellowship is designed to develop the capacity of outstanding midcareer health professionals in academic and community-based settings to: assume leadership roles in health policy and management, gain an understanding of the health policy process, and contribute to the formulation of new policies and programs. The deadline for this opportunity is Friday, November 18. It is not possible to apply online for a grant under this program. To apply, please follow the program-specific instructions in the call for applications. For more information click Recommendations On Dental Hygiene's Future Three years ago, a selected group of dental hygienists met to establish what the future would hold for their profession if it were determined by those in the field. The result is Dental Hygiene: Focus on Advancing the Profession.
The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.adha.org/downloads/ADHA_Focus_Report.pdf . Medical Technology Likely To Greatly Inflate Future Medicare Costs New medical technology is likely to further inflate future Medicare costs, posing great financial risk to the program, according to a RAND Corporation study. Emerging treatments such as implantable defibrillators for heart ailments or drugs to prevent Alzheimer's disease could boost spending significantly, with single treatments potentially increasing costs by as much as 70 percent, according to a series of RAND Health reports published online by the journal Health Affairs . A Research Brief may be accessed by clicking http://www.rand.org/publications/RB/RB9146/RAND_RB9146.pdf . Bioterrorism And Mass Casualty Preparedness In Hospitals The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCC) released a report based on a survey of hospitals regarding their preparedness for treating patients from bioterrorism attacks or mass casualty incidents. The study of some 500 hospitals covered topics including emergency response plans, training for terrorism response, experiences with internal and external disaster drills, and availability of special equipment such as decontamination showers, personal protective suits, and negative pressure isolation rooms. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/ad/ad364.pdf . Patients Value Choice Of Providers Proposals to expand the individual health insurance market and promote health savings accounts are intended to provide consumers with more "choice." The types of choices people prefer, however, are not well understood. This analysis of survey data finds that having a choice of health care providers matters more to people than having a choice of health plans. Dissatisfaction among adults with no choice of providers was more than twice as high as among those with no choice of plan. Moreover, a large majority of Americans who have had experience with employer-based health insurance believe that employers do a good job of selecting quality plans. Two of three preferred an employer-selected set of plans over an employer-funded account that they would use to find coverage on their own. Thus, policymakers should be cautious about embracing the individual market and health savings accounts as a way to improve satisfaction in the system. For additional information, click http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/lambrew_853_choice_ib.pdf . New Commission On Future Of Higher Education To Be Formed U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced the formation of the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education. The new commission is charged with developing a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education that will meet the needs of America's diverse population and also address the economic and workforce needs of the country's future. Former North Carolina governor James B. Hunt will serve on the new 19-member commission, along with university presidents, CEOs, policymakers, and researchers. Spellings said the commission will engage students and families, policymakers, business leaders, and the academic community in a national dialogue about all key aspects of higher education. Through public hearings to be held around the country, the commission will attempt to answer questions such as: What skills will students need to succeed in the 21st century? How can we make sure America stays the world's leader in academic research? And, how can we make sure opportunities for quality higher education and best jobs are open to all students? Higher Education Act Passed By U.S. House Legislation to extend the Higher Education Act (HEA) through the end of December was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this week. Originally, the extension was to end in March 2006. Congress reauthorizes the HEA every six years. Information About Upcoming Interdisciplinary Research Consortium Program Of The NIH Roadmap As part of the NIH Roadmap for Medical Research, more than $36 million was awarded over three years to fund 21 Exploratory Centers for Interdisciplinary Research. This NIH Roadmap initiative seeks to lower artificial barriers that divide biomedical researchers and impede scientific progress. Biomedical research traditionally has been organized much like a series of cottage industries, lumping researchers into broad areas of scientific interest and then grouping them into distinct, departmentally based specialties. To remove these organizational barriers and advance science, the new specialized centers will make it easier for scientists to conduct interdisciplinary research and will help them to forge new disciplines from existing ones. By engaging seemingly unrelated disciplines, traditional gaps in terminology, approach, and methodology will also be gradually eliminated. Advising Patients About Patient Safety In a study funded by The Commonwealth Fund, researchers examined readily available educational resources distributed by leading proponents of patient safety. The team then chose five advisories for more detailed content analyses. The selected materials were developed by the following organizations: the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ); U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), with the American Hospital Association (AHA) and American Medical Association (AMA); the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO); and the National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF). In addition to performing their own analysis of the materials, the team conducted 40 interviews with patient safety and quality professionals from academic, clinical, consumer, and health care administrative backgrounds. The authors suggest the advisories have missed opportunities to increase public understanding. None explain the relationship between errors and poor outcomes, for example, or review current safety standards or discuss current patient safety initiatives. The study may be accessed by clicking: http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/859_Entwistle_advising_patients_JACHO.pdf . Student Aid Forgiveness Legislation Passed By U.S. House Of Representatives The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved the "Student Grant Hurricane and Disaster Relief Act" ( H.R. 3668 ), proposed by Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), which gives the Secretary of Education the ability to waive the Title IV federal assistance programs' repayment requirements when a natural disaster is recognized by the President. The Senate passed H.R. 3668 without amendment by Unanimous Consent on Sept. 15. Low Electronic Health Record Adoption Rates For Physician Groups A comprehensive study by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) Center for Research and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health has captured the current state of adoption of electronic health records (EHR) by U.S. medical group practices. More than 3,300 medical group practices participated in the Assessing Adoption of Health Information Technology project, which was funded by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The study reports current rates of EHR adoption, which EHR features are more frequently used, barriers to adopting an HER, and how users rated the benefits of having adopted an EHR. For additional information about the study, click http://www.ahcpr.gov/news/press/pr2005/lowehrpr.htm . Federal Employees Health Benefits Program: Competition And Other Factors Linked To Wide Variation In Health Care Prices The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program often is cited as a model for how the cost of health services might be financed for the rest of the U.S. population. Congress is concerned about the health care spending burden facing the program,the largest private health insurance entity in the country. Health care spending per person varies geographically and the underlying causes for the spending variation have not been fully explored. Understanding market forces and other factors that may influence health care spending may contribute to efforts to moderate health care spending. Health care spending varies across the country due to differences in its components, the utilization, and price of health care services. A wide body of research describes extensive geographic variation in utilization. Less is known, however, about private sector geographic variation in prices. A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined prices and spending in FEHBP Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) to determine (1) the extent to which hospital and physician prices varied geographically, (2) which factors were associated with geographic variation in hospital and physician prices, and (3) the extent to which hospital and physician price variation contributed to geographic variation in spending. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05856.pdf . Widespread Adoption Of Health Information Technology Would Save Money And Prevent Medical Errors Widespread adoption and effective use of electronic medical record systems (EMRs) and other health information technology (HIT) improvements could save the U.S. health system as much as $162 billion annually by greatly improving the way medical care is managed, greatly reducing preventable medical errors, lowering death rates from chronic disease, and reducing employee sick days, says a pair of new RAND Corporation studies released in the journal Health Affairs . The studies are the first of their kind to project both the savings and health benefits that could result from nationwide adoption of HIT. Selected articles from Health Affairs are available free on the journal's Web site, www.healthaffairs.org . Projections of Education Statistics To 2014 A new publication from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) provides projections for key education statistics. It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment, earned degrees conferred, and current-fund expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2014. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2014. In addition, the report includes a methodology section describing models and assumptions used to develop national and state-level projections. The report may be accessed by clicking http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005074.pdf . Proposed Accreditation Features Of Higher Education Act Reauthorizing Legislation Compared With Current Law Yesterday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Michael B. Enzi (R-WY) and Ranking Member Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), marked up the reauthorization legislation, S. 1614. The Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) has provided a comparison of the accreditation provisions of HR 609, the major reauthorization bill passed by the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, with current law. Eventually, agreement must be reached between the two legislative chambers in areas where the provisions differ. The comparison may be obtained by clicking http://www.chea.org/Government/HEAUpdate/docs/HR609_summary.pdf . One widely discussed approach to addressing the problem of medical errors is improved professional training on safety science concepts for healthcare professionals. The Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF)—a Pittsburgh-based philanthropy dedicated to furthering the provision of high-quality healthcare—recently developed such a training curriculum. In order to gain preliminary feedback on the effectiveness of this training curriculum, JHF contracted with RAND Health, a unit of the RAND Corporation to provide an in-process evaluation. The report should be of interest to policymakers, funders, medical professionals, medical educators, and others involved in efforts to reduce the prevalence of medical errors. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.rand.org/pubs/technical_reports/2005/RAND_TR276.pdf . Advice About College From First-Generation Students How do students muster the determination to attend college, if their families have not gone before them? How do they find the information they need, defy stereotypes and low expectations? A new book that speaks directly to and from first-generation college students answers these questions and more. The book may be accessed by clicking: http://www.whatkidscando.org/featurestories/2005pdfs/first_in_the_family.pdf . Preparing A Grant Application: Steps To Success On June 25, 2005, Shelley Benjamin and Karen Rudzinski from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) made a slide presentation on grantsmanship at the 11th Annual National Research Service Award (NRSA) Trainees Research Conference. The text version of the slide presentation can be accessed at: The Power Point slides can be accessed at http://www.ahcpr.gov/fund/training/grantsman.ppt . Department Of Education Regulatory Relief For Students And Institutions Affected By Hurricane Katrina During the next several days, the U.S. Department of Education will issue a series of communications providing guidance to assist students and postsecondary educational institutions, in recognition of the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina. Last year, the Department published guidance in a Dear Colleague Letter which, until otherwise modified, can be relied upon for this current natural disaster. The letter (GEN-04-04) may be accessed by clicking http://www.ifap.ed.gov/dpcletters/GEN0404.html Census Bureau Report On The Uninsured The number of uninsured persons in the U.S. increased by 800,000 to 45.8 million in 2004, but the percentage of uninsured remained unchanged from 2003 at 15.7%, according to the Census Bureau's annual report on poverty, health insurance, and income. Among the findings are the following: 59.8% received employer-sponsored health care coverage in 2004 compared with 60.4% in 2003. The percentage and number of children who were uninsured remained unchanged between 2003 and 2004 at 11.2%, or 8.3 million. The Midwest had the lowest uninsured rate in 2004 at 11.9%. The Northeast had an uninsured rate of 13.2%, the West, 17.4%, and the South, 18.3%. Uninsured rates remained unchanged in 2004 for whites (11.3%), blacks (19.7%), and Latinos (32.7%). The rate of uninsured Asians declined from 18.8% in 2003 to 16.8% in 2004. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p60-229.pdf . National Report on Health Information Exchange The majority of state, regional and community-based health information exchange initiatives already are beginning to exchange electronic healthcare data. They identify funding as the major barrier in their collaborative effort to connect for faster, safer, and better quality healthcare, according to a study released by the eHealth Initiative Foundation (eHI). The study is the first of its kind to report trends in health information exchange, the subject of several high-profile bills currently circulating in Congress and a key issue for the Bush administration. eHI's survey of health information exchange collaborators takes the pulse of progress of the more than 100 multi-stakeholder efforts across the country, representing initiatives in 45 states and the District of Columbia. The The survey was conducted by the eHealth Initiative Foundation with support under a cooperative agreement with the Health Resources and Services Administration Office of the Advancement of Telehealth. The report may be accessed at http://ccbh.ehealthinitiative.org/communities/register_download.mspx . In the Focus on Research produced by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), there appears a summary of the impact of AHRQ research on what works and does not work in diagnosing and treating conditions relevant to men's health . The summary may be accessed by clicking http://www.ahcpr.gov/news/focus/menshc.pdf . A Look At Working-Age Caregivers' Roles, Health Concerns, And Need For Support The role of informal caregivers is becoming increasingly important as the U.S. population continues to age and cost-containment strategies promote shorter hospital stays. Currently, 16 million working-age adults caring for a sick or disabled family member, according to data from the Commonwealth Fund Biennial Health Insurance Survey. Caregivers are less likely to be working, to miss days of work when they are employed, and to lack health insurance coverage, which may leave them financially vulnerable and unable to obtain needed health care. One-half of caregivers reported not obtaining care because of cost issues and three of five caregivers experienced problems with medical bills. Polices to expand Medicaid and Medicare would improve caregivers' ability to access health care for themselves and their families as well as help eliminate the financial strain of going without health insurance. The Commonwealth issue brief may be accessed by clicking New Report On Obesity Released Obesity rates continued to rise last year in every state but one and government policies and actions to date offer little hope of countering the trend, according to a new report by Trust for America's Health. Mississippi ranked as the heaviest state, Colorado as the least heavy, and rates stayed the same in Oregon, according to F as in Fat: How Obesity Policies are Failing in America, 2005 . Over 25 percent of adults in 10 states are obese, including in Mississippi, Alabama, West Virginia, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, Michigan, Kentucky, Indiana, and South Carolina. Seven of those 10 states are in the Southeastern U.S. Approximately 119 million Americans, or 64.5 percent, of adult Americans are either overweight or obese. Estimates of the number of obese American adults rose from 23.7 percent in 2003 to 24.5 percent in 2004. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services set a national goal of reducing obesity in adults to 15 percent or less of the population in states by the year 2010. In addition, 16 percent of active duty U.S. military personnel are obese and it is currently the biggest reason for the discharge of soldiers. The report may be accessed by clicking http://healthyamericans.org/reports/obesity2005/Obesity2005Report.pdf . Comments Invited On Healthy People 2010 Officials at the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) are soliciting the submission of electronic comments for consideration on changes and revisions proposed to the Healthy People 2010 objectives as a result of the Midcourse Review process. The review is the process through which the Healthy People 2010 objectives are reviewed by the Deaprtment of Health & Human Services, lead agencies for the Healthy People focus areas, and other experts to:
The proposed revisions take the form of: establishing baselines and targets for formerly developmental objectives (i.e., objectives that had no baseline data or target when Healthy People 2010 was released in 2000); changes to the language of objectives and subobjectives; deletions of objectives and subobjectives; new subobjectives; and baseline and target revisions. Written comments must be submitted via the Internet Web site by 5:00 p.m. EST on September 15, 2005. The proposed revisions to Healthy People 2010 objectives can be viewed and commented on by clicking: http://www.healthypeople.gov/data/midcourse IRestoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the Long-Run Health Challenge A new book from the Brookings Institution by Alice Rivlin and Isabel Sawmill is entitled “Restoring Fiscal Sanity 2005: Meeting the Long-Run Challenge.” Henry Aaron and Jack Meyer wrote a chapter in it on the topic of health. Aaron is a former Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare and he currently serves as a member of the Institute of Medicine. The chapter may be accessed by clicking http://www.brookings.edu/es/research/projects/budget/fiscalsanity/2005chapter4.pdf . Increasing Success for Underserved Students: Redesigning Introductory Courses A report from The National Center for Academic Transformation examined the impact of the redesign techniques developed by the program in course redesign on the success of adult students, students of color and low-income students. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.thencat.org/Monographs/IncSuccess.htm . Electronic Health Records: Synthesizing Recent Evidence And Current Policy An issue brief by Mathematica Policy Research examines federal efforts to speed providers' adoption of electronic health records. In addition, the brief, based on the group's ongoing literature review of EHRs, looks at how EHRs might affect the development of quality-based purchasing. The brief may be accessed by clicking Number Of Public Hospitals Declining According to a study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation , the number of public hospitals in major cities declined by 16% from 83 to 70 during the study period, while the number of public hospitals in suburban areas declined by 27% from 134 to 98. The study found that the number of for-profit hospitals declined by 11% in both cities and suburbs and that the number of not-for-profit hospitals declined by 11% in cities and 2% in suburbs. As a result, "there is a major increase" in emergency department visits by low-income residents in suburban areas. The report may be accessed by clicking: Online Continuing Education Series On Complementary And Alternative Medicine The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is offering an online Continuing Education Series on complementary and alternative medicine. This lecture series offers health care professionals and the public the opportunity to learn more about complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies and the state-of-the-science about them through video lectures by some of the leading experts in this field. Health care professionals can earn Continuing Medical Education (CME) credits. Users who complete all the test chapters can generate an online certificate. The CME series is provided at no cost and may be accessed by clicking http://nccam.nih.gov/videolectures/ Medical Teamwork And Patient Safety: The Evidence-Based Relation The science of team performance and training can help the medical community improve patient safety. A report, commissioned by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), assesses the status of relevant team training research from aviation and other domains and applies this research to the field of medicine. It additionally provides a comprehensive review and evaluation of current medical team training initiatives and their effectiveness. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.ahcpr.gov/qual/medteam/medteamwork.pdf . Experts On Global Nursing Shortage Provide Recommendations To Stem Crisis Nursing shortages in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and many other developed countries have become a global problem. In recent years, provider organizations in developed countries have been actively recruiting nurses from English-speaking countries. With an expected shortage of 270,000 nurses in the U.S. by the year 2010, the potential impact of private sector recruitment of nurses on health systems in poor countries, especially those that are small, is devastating. AcademyHealth and The University of Pennsylvania convened an international expert group on nurse migration to examine the causes and consequences of the global nurse shortage and to consider strategies to mitigate its negative impact on the health of people around the world. The recommendations and presentations from the expert meeting on July 9, 2005 are available online and can be accessed by clicking http://www.academyhealth.org/international/nursemigration/index.htm . Efforts to Enhance First Responders' All-Hazards Capabilities The events of September 11, 2001 have resulted in a greater focus on the role of first responders in carrying out the nation's emergency management efforts. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is the primary federal entity responsible for ensuring that first responders such as police, fire, emergency medical, and public health personnel have the capabilities needed to provide a coordinated, comprehensive response to any large-scale crisis. A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the congressional watchdog agency, addresses the following questions: (1) What actions has DHS taken to provide policies and strategies that promote the development of the all-hazards emergency management capabilities of first responders? (2) How do first responders' emergency management capabilities for terrorist attacks differ to capabilities needed for natural or accidental disasters? (3) What emphasis has DHS placed on funding awarded to state and local first responders to enhance all-hazards emergency management capabilities? The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05652.pdf . Publicly Reporting Quality Information May Inadvertently Reduce Rather Than Improve Care Quality Health care report cards publicly report information about physician, hospital, and health plan quality in an attempt to improve quality. The goal is to help patients, referring physicians, and health care purchasers to select high-quality physicians and to motivate physicians to improve their care quality. However, the value of publicly reporting quality information is largely undemonstrated. It may even inadvertently reduce, rather than improve, quality of care, caution University of Pennsylvania researchers, Rachel M. Werner, M.D., Ph.D., and David A. Asch, M.D., M.B.A., in a recent paper.
A Policymaker's Primer On Education Research The Education Commission of the States (ECS) and Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL) have developed a new online resource to help policymakers, education leaders, and the public better understand and evaluate educational research. “ A Policymaker's Primer on Education Research: How To Understand, Evaluate and Use It” --is an interactive web site that provides users with three primary areas of analysis : understanding what the research says, evaluating whether it is trustworthy, and deciding how the research can be used to guide policy. The only prerequisite for using the Primer is some familiarity with using computers and the Internet--no understanding of science or sophisticated mathematical skills are required. It is designed so that any part of it may be used independently. It is not necessary to read all sections of the Primer in sequence or to read those sections before using the glossary, the tutorials or any of the other tools. The primer may be accessed by clicking http://www.mcrel.org/PDF/SchoolImprovementReform/9713TG_SchoolImprovement_Primer6-04.pdf . Eliminating Disparities In Treatment And The Struggle To End Segregation Segregation was the central issue of the civil rights challenges and achievements of the 1950s and 1960s—specifically, the Brown vs. Board of Education decision and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, with the implementation of the Medicare program dealing a further blow to the institution. Current efforts to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care treatment, however, fail to address the effect of segregation on disparities. Segregation is simply not part of the current vocabulary of clinicians, health care executives, policymakers, or advocacy groups in their discussions of racial disparities in treatment or health. To address this omission, a report by the The Commonwealth Fund aims to: • review the history of the early efforts to integrate health care in the United States; • assess the trends and effectiveness of the strategies used for reducing segregation; and • outline the lessons of this experience to assist current efforts in the elimination of disparities in health care. The report may be accessed by clicking http://www.cmwf.org/usr_doc/775_Smith_ending_disparities_in_treatment.pdf .
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