CPEHN staff were co-authors of a new research brief: “Managing Diversity to Eliminate Disparities: A Framework for Health,” featured in the September 2018 issue of Health Affairs.
The brief used statewide health data to examine health care access, and quality of care by race/ethnicity, payer and region with regards to diabetes management, a chronic condition that disproportionately impacts communities of color in California. Wealthy regions exhibited the widest disparities—with advantages among non-Latino whites and people with commercial coverage, whereas disparities were narrowest in rural and agricultural regions, but health and quality of care were lower overall in those regions, according to the new data.
The brief also explored the unique role CPEHN and other statewide advocacy groups have traditionally played in the advancement of state initiatives to address health equity; including through requirements on health plans to reduce health disparities, as well as broader system wide requirements on public and private entities to invest carbon cap-and-trade revenues in disadvantaged communities.
The article was co-authored by Cary Sanders/Director Policy Analysis and Sarah de Guia/Executive Director of CPEHN in partnership with Ninez A. Ponce, professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, director of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and principal investigator of the California Health Interview Survey and researchers Michelle Ko/assistant professor UC Davis and Riti Shimkhada/research scientist UCLA.