Health Care Disparity

Introduction

The health of a population is influenced by both its social and its economic circumstances and health care services it receives. The health care services provided to Hispanics and black in United States of America is low. Throughout the years we have seen advancements in the health care quality received by ethnic minorities groups. But there is still a large gap when comparing minorities with their white counterparts (Vicini, 2015). This has affected the two groups which have low income families and experience poor quality care. Hispanic and blacks are less likely to have a high school education. Disparities in quality of care are common among the blacks and Hispanics in USA. For instance adults of 65 years and above receive worse care than adults with 18-44 years. Poor people have worse access to care than the high income people (Lee et al., 2003).

Healthcare Disparities between the Blacks and the Latinos in USA

The healthcare insurance status for the blacks and Latinos is low and as a result it forms barriers to access to quality health care utilization. Language barriers in health care are associated with decrease in quality of care, safety, patient and clinical satisfaction and contribute to health disparities even among people with insurance. Statistics have shown when comparing blacks and Latinos to their white counterparts, the minority groups will more likely be uninsured. Most Americans as a whole attain high school diploma while between 25 and 75percent continue to postsecondary institutions. Hispanics are among the least educated ethnic group according to U.S Census Bureau. For instance, in year 2000, about 530,000 Latinos 16-19 years of age were high school dropouts (Vicini, 2015).

In regards to education status 11 percent of Hispanics more than an high school diploma, as compared to 17 percent of blacks. If we look at where these individuals were born, the ones that immigrated to the United States have a lower education level. This is due to the the language barrier which creates difficulties with communication. Education attainment so such determines people’s employment and earnings which are a measure of labor market success. Given the low level of education in both Latinos and black Americans, the level of employment is low. However, the blacks lag behind the Hispanics when it comes to employment rates (Smedley et al., 2003).

Roles of Health Professionals

Health care professionals can increase trust in the minority ethnic groups in USA by addressing the factors bringing about disparities. By expanding the ACA coverage, people are provided an opportunity to increase health coverage and access to care for uninsured blacks and Latinos. Given that the uninsured are mostly the low-income earners, majority of them would qualify for ACA coverage expansions. The health care professionals can influence the state’s decision by advising them on the need to implement the ACA Medicaid expansion. If not the poor uninsured adults will continue to lack quality medical care (Lee et al., 2003).

The health care, along with the public health policies and activities by health care professionals should be observed and reviewed to eliminate disparities. These policies should be carefully carried out by informing the population since focused health care and public health efforts to reduce disparities can be very effective. In order to see improvement in the society’s health care system. We need to first work on our underserved population and then the less fortunate ethnic groups. By adopting partnership and intersectional policy development, health disparities can be resolved to the maximum possible extent (Sehgal, 2008; Williams, 2011).

The professionals at the health sectors can also increase trust among individuals in both Blacks and Latinos society by monitoring the health care services. This would ensure that improvements extends to lower and smaller ethnic groups and continue for extended periods. Reducing health care disparities will achieve an overall improvement in the health of Americans because the opportunities for gains will be increased. Health professionals can also carry out health promotions strategies to improve health by encouraging people to change their lifestyle and behavior. The Blacks and the Latinos are likely to respond effectively to antismoking and active lifestyle messages. This is because they have the motivation, resources, social support, and the environment to succeed (Smedley et al., 2003).

Values Adoption

In order to address challenges in the health care disparities we need to look at the health care system as a whole and make the required changes. Within the center of these systems are the experts that make changes when they are needed. These professionals should provide patient centered care where they identify, respect, and care about patient’s differences, values preferences and express needs. For instance they should work towards healing, relieving pain and suffering. Through coordinating continuous care, they listen to, clearly inform, communicate with and educate patients. Patients should participate in decision making and management to ensure that there is continuous advocacy of disease prevention, wellness and promotion of healthy lifestyle (Sehgal, 2008).

Health care professional should employ evidence-based practices which integrates best research with clinical expertise and patient values for optimum care. They should also participate in learning and research activities to the extent feasible. Through research, these professionals identify errors and hazards in care and consequently, understand and implement basic safety design principles. For instance, through standardization and simplification it is possible to design and test interventions to change processes and systems of care with objective of improving quality (Williams, 2011).

Conclusion

Utilization of informatics is very in key in mitigating challenges faced by Blacks and Latinos in United States of America. This is enabled through communicating, managing knowledge, mitigating error, and support decision making using information technology. Interventions to target to specific patient populations in Blacks and Latinos society are also important. This has greater impact on quality improvement and cost containment than broader approaches. For instance, targeting treatments to the appropriate patients is increasingly important in medical science and particularly important to promote quality and value (Williams, 2011).

References

Lee, C., Cumber, S., Dumas, C., Winter, R., Nguyen, K.N., & Nieman, L.Z. (2003). Health related quality of life in pregeriatric patients with chronic diseases at urban, public supported clinics. Health & Quality of Life Outcomes, 1(2003), 63-8

Sehgal, A.R. (2008, June 17). Eliminating Healthcare Disparities in America: Beyond the IOM Report. Annals of Internal Medicine, 148(12), 972-972

Smedley, B.D., Stith, A.Y., Nelson, A.R., & Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2003). Unequal treatment: Confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press

Vicini, A. (2015). Bioethics/Healthcare--Topic Session. Catholic Theological Society of America Proceedings, 70(2015), 106-107

Williams, R.A. (2011). Healthcare disparities at the crossroads with healthcare reform. New York: Springer