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Welcome

Welcome to the Disparities Solutions Center (DSC) website, and thank you for your interest in our work. The DSC is dedicated to the development and implementation of strategies that advance policy and practice to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The Disparities Solutions Center will achieve this mission by:

  • Serving as a change agent by developing new research and translating innovative research findings into policy and practice

  • Developing and evaluating customized policy and practice solutions for health care providers, insurers, educators, community organizations, and other stakeholders

  • Providing education and leadership training to expand the community of skilled individuals dedicated to eliminating health care disparities

Our goal is to move beyond research and begin to take action—by developing and disseminating models for identifying and addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health care nationally, regionally, and locally. Through our work, we hope to move all healthcare stakeholders one step forward – and closer to eliminating racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare.

Composed of a multidisciplinary group of health policy experts, health services researchers and physicians, the DSC opened in July of 2005 with initial funding from Massachusetts General Hospital and Partners HealthCare System. It is housed within the MGH Institute for Health Policy and affiliated with MGH and Harvard Medical School’s Department of Medicine.

For more information on how the DSC is working to assure equitable, high quality health care for all, please browse through our website. Thank you.

 

Recent Updates from the DSC

Assuring Healthcare Quality: A Healthcare Equity Blueprint – This report offers strategies and practices that can be tailored to individual hospitals to address equity in providing quality care. The Blueprint is a starting point for designing and implementing interventions to address disparities in health care. Read more about the Blueprint and download a free copy.

Fall DSC Events - We would like to invite you to join us for our upcoming events. For more information on topics and guest speakers, please click here.

Now Accepting Applications - Disparities Leadership Program - We are pleased to announce that we are now accepting applications for our 2009-2010 Disparities Leadership Program. This year-long executive education program is designed for leaders from hospitals, health plans and other health care organizations who wish to implement practical strategies to identify and address racial and ethnic disparities in health care, particularly through quality improvement. More information about the DLP and the application process is available here.

AHA Diversity Dialogue Call - On Tuesday, August 14th, The Institute for Diversity in Health Management, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association, hosted a special Diversity Dialogue "Health Care Disparities: Emerging Theories", regarding the issue of disparities and its relation to site of care. The call featured Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, Director of the Disparities Solutions Center and slides of his presentation are available here.

"A Plan for Action" Published - A Plan for Action: Key Perspectives from the Racial/Ethnic Disparities Strategy Forum, a paper authored by the Disparities Solutions Center team, was published in the June issue of The Milbank Quarterly. The Strategy Forum, convened by the DSC and funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, brought together a group of twenty experts with the goal of deciding on innovative action items and adoption strategies to address disparities. To read an abstract of the article, click here.

Creating Equity Reports: A Guide for Hospitals NOW Available - This guide is a resource that can help your staff develop an equity report. It includes practical information on how to collect and use data to develop an equity report that will allow your hospital to take action...
Read more about this Guide, which is free and available to the public.

Other Updates

New Publication from The Joint Commission - The Joint Commission’s Hospitals, Language, and Culture (HLC) study is issuing a new research report, One Size Does Not Fit All: Meeting the Health Care Needs of Diverse Populations. This report provides a framework to help organizations meet the challenges of providing safe, quality care to culturally and/or linguistically diverse patients. Download a free copy today!