The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #48988

Stacy Baker, MSEd, Public Health Foundation, 1220 L Street, NW, Suite 350, Washington, DC 20005 and Margaret Johnson, RN, BS, CCM, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, 4800 Deerwood Campus Parkway, DC3-3, Jacksonville, FL 32246, (904) 905-5874, sbaker@phf.org.

Background: One of the overarching goals of Healthy People 2010 is, "to eliminate health disparities among segments of the population, including differences that occur by gender, race or ethnicity, education or income, disability, geographic location, or sexual orientation." To help achieve this overarching goal, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida has developed a companion resource for physicians in their network. The publication focuses on ways to reduce health disparities and increase cultural competence in order to improve patient and community health.

Presentation: We will present brief background information on Healthy People 2010, focusing on the goal of eliminating health disparities. We will present some of the focus areas and objectives that pertain to health professionals and are of particular concern to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida. We will discuss Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida's commitment to reducing health disparities and how this companion resource will help achieve that goal. We will present the focus areas of the publication, including ways physicians can impact health disparities and cultural competence in their clinical practice, in their professional associations, and as community leaders. We will also focus on specific health status indicators that are typically worse for minority groups - infant mortality, cancer, heart disease, HIV/AIDS infection, diabetes, and immunizations. In addition, we will highlight relevant national resources that focus on health disparities and cultural competence.

Learning Objectives: