What Policies Can Help Tackle Diabetes among Latinos, Other Minorities?

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With ongoing implementation of the Affordable Care Act, a new report on policy considerations is available to help educate policymakers and inform decisions on national health policy.

The report, “Policy Considerations That Make the Link,” offers options to advance changes to overcome systemic and structural barriers that may block the ability to deliver and sustain effective diabetes care to those most in need.

The report comes from The Alliance to Reduce Disparities in Diabetes, a five-site program in Camden, N.J., Chicago, Dallas, Wind River Indian Reservation, Wyo., and Memphis, Tenn., which aims to improve health care delivery and outcomes among African-American, Latino and Native American adults.

“The document connects the on-the-ground experiences of the Alliance grantees with the issues facing national decision makers as they consider ways to get more value, quality, efficiency and innovation into our health care system,” said Dr. Noreen Clark, director of the Alliance’s national program office.

Policy considerations in the new report were developed from in-depth interviews with the Alliance sites, a literature review, and consultation with an expert group.

The considerations pose a series of questions surrounding the identified need to realign financial incentives affecting health systems, providers and patients as a mechanism for reducing disparities in diabetes.

For example, concepts to address health system needs include ways to:

• Encourage greater integration of public health and health care systems
• Share and report community-wide health data
• Eliminate incentives that encourage underinvestment in low-income, high-risk patients

Read more here.