This report addresses the ability of health care organizations to describe their populations and assess the size and scope of health care disparities using in-house resources. It provides information on the state of disparities-related data collection in the U.S. hospital industry and also describes data collection practices at more than 60 safety net hospital systems across the country.

Through a generous grant provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, the National Public Health and Hospital Institute (NPHHI) - NAPH's research affiliate - released "Assuring Healthcare Equity: A Healthcare Equity Blueprint" in September 2008. In developing the Blueprint, NPHHI combined the expertise of national health care disparities leaders, experience of NAPH members, strategies for quality improvement designed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the research knowledge of The Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Blueprint serves as a guide for all hospitals and providers, and offers strategies to address disparities through interventions that can be tailored to the individual hospital setting.

NAPH conducted a study in 2008 on promising, replicable public hospital practices that are successfully reducing health care disparites in member hospitals. This Research Brief identifies organizational models to address health care equity, as well as characteristcs and common themes of disparities-reducing activities.