Disparities Reduction

AF4Q emphasizes improvements in care for all patients, including patients from all racial and ethnic backgrounds, and focuses on examining the factors which may have an impact on the provision of high quality equitable care for racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities and other underserved populations.

At the health care system level, several factors contribute to disparities including fragmentation of care, financial and physical barriers, information barriers, differential access to high-quality care, and communication or cultural barriers. It is difficult to assess where and why disparities exist without collecting and stratifying quality data by race, ethnicity, and primary language.

The AF4Q Evaluation focuses on how the AF4Q communities are collecting and using data to reduce health care disparities. In addition, we examine the integration of disparities reduction with activities related to quality improvement, consumer engagement, and performance measurement and public reporting as well as the role of governance and leadership in reducing disparities in the AF4Q communities.