Policy & Practice

Report on Health Care Disparities

Disparities related to race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status continue to plague the health care system, according to the 2004 National Healthcare Disparities Report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Using comparable data from 2000 and 2001, researchers analyzed 38 measures of effectiveness for health care and 31 measures of access to care. Of the measures tracked for these two consecutive years, AHRQ found that blacks received poorer quality of care than whites for about two-thirds of the quality measures and had worse access to care than whites for about 40% of access measures. Hispanics, Asians, American Indians, and Alaska natives also scored lower than whites on quality measures and access to care.