A Snapshot of Strategies to Improve Care

Here's the promising news: About 95 percent of hospitals and health care systems collect data on patients' race, ethnicity and primary language. The not-so-good news is only 22 percent of hospitals and systems are using that data to identify disparities in treatment or outcomes between racial or ethnic groups or to analyze clinical quality indicators, readmissions or other measures. However, more than 85 percent of hospitals educate all clinical staff during orientation about how to address unique cultural and linguistic factors affecting the care of diverse patients and communities.

These statistics are among the results from a 2013 survey of U.S. hospitals and care systems conducted by the AHA's Institute for Diversity in Management and Health Research & Educational Trust. The survey results provide a snapshot of strategies that hospitals are using to improve the quality of care for patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or other characteristics. Visit the Equity of Care website to read the report Diversity and Disparities: A Benchmark Study of U.S. Hospitals in 2013. The Equity of Care website also provides many resources, including toolkits, videos and presentations from the AHA, its EOC partners—the American College of Healthcare Executives, America's Essential Hospitals, Association of American Medical Colleges and Catholic Health Association of the United States—and other organizations. The diversity and disparities survey results should help the health care field focus attention on areas that will have the most impact and establish a benchmark to gauge hospitals' progress in the coming years.

HPOE.org features case studies, webinars and guides from AHA resources and other groups.