National Healthcare Disparities Report, 2004

The 2004 National Healthcare Disparities Report (NHDR) builds on the 2003 report and continues to include a comprehensive national overview of disparities in health care in America. In addition, in the 2004 report, a second critical goal of the report is developed: tracking the Nation's progress toward eliminating health care disparities

The 2004 National Healthcare Disparities Report presents data on the same clinical conditions and other measures as its companion National Healthcare Quality Report as they apply to the priority populations, including women; children; the elderly; racial and ethnic minority groups; low income groups; residents of rural areas; and individuals with special health care needs, specifically focusing on family-centered care for children with special health care needs.

The 2004 NHDR includes a report and four appendixes.

The report presents findings on quality of and access to health care in the general U.S. population and among priority populations. It focuses on four components of quality—effectiveness, patient safety, timeliness, and patient centeredness—and four components of access—getting into the health care system, getting care within the system, patient perceptions of care, and health care utilization.

• 2004 NHDR Full Report (PDF File, 5.3 MB; PDF Help).

Appendixes include:

• Appendix A, Data Sources—Provides information on all databases analyzed in the report.
• Appendix B, Detailed Methods—Provides methods for selected databases.
• Appendix C, Measure Specifications—Provides information on how to generate each measure.
• Appendix D, Data Tables—Provides detailed tables for most measures analyzed in the report. (A few measures cannot support detailed tables and are not included here.)

Current as of November 2006

Internet Citation:

National Healthcare Disparities Report, 2004. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr04/nhdr04.htm