Chapter 4. Priority Populations

Many Americans enjoy easy access to one of world's finest health care delivery systems. However, as demonstrated in previous NHDRs, some Americans do not have full access to the best quality health care.

To examine the issue of disparities in health care, Congress directed AHRQ to produce an annual report to track "prevailing disparities in health care delivery as it relates to racial factors and socioeconomic factors in priority populations." While the emphasis is on disparities related to race, ethnicity, and SES, this directive includes a charge to examine disparities in "priority populations"—groups with unique health care needs or issues that require special attention.

This chapter addresses the congressional directive on priority populations. Chapters 2 and 3 of this report examine racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences in quality of health care and access to health care in the general U.S. population; this chapter focuses on differences within and across priority populations. For example, comparisons are made between Black and White women and between children from low and high income families. This approach may help policymakers to understand the impact of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic differences on specific populations and target quality improvement programs toward groups in greatest need. Appendix D includes detailed tables that allow examination of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities both in the general population and across priority populations for most measures.

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