Every day, healthcare organizations and others are faced with the challenge of how to eliminate disparities in health and health care. After decades of attention to this issue, disparities remain pervasive, leading to preventable suffering and interfering with the ability of individuals and families to live full, healthy lives. We need information to guide decisions about how to eliminate these disparities and ensure that people receive care according to their needs — and that all have the opportunity to achieve the best possible outcomes, in accordance with their wishes.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) has designed five national priorities and a research agenda for the projects they will fund that is focused on producing knowledge that is useful to patients, their caregivers, and clinicians. This knowledge is also expected to be useful to health system leaders, payers, and regulators who make decisions that impact patients.

They are looking for studies that will inform the choice of strategies to eliminate disparities and identify the best options in areas of importance to patients and their caregivers.

http://bit.ly/OqnFax

Regular mammography screening can help narrow the breast cancer gap between black and white women, according to a retrospective study published in Breast Cancer Research and Treatment.

Earlier studies have shown that black women are more than twice as likely to die of breast cancer compared to white women. Black women with breast cancer reach the disease’s late stages more often than white women, and their tumors are more likely to be larger and more biologically aggressive.

But according to the study, when women of both races received regular breast cancer screening — a mammogram within two years of breast cancer diagnosis — there was no difference in the rate of how many of them presented in the disease’s later stages.

bit.ly/RiEqme

The Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Minority Health Policy is a one-year, full-time, academic degree-granting program at Harvard University designed to create physician leaders who will pursue careers in health policy, public service, and academia.  An optional second year of practicum experience to supplement the fellows’ academic and leadership development training at Harvard with practical experience creating high performance health care for vulnerable populations is also available.  The Fellowship is designed to prepare physician leaders who will, over time, improve the capacity of the health care system to promote policies and practices that improve minority, disadvantaged and vulnerable populations’ access to high-quality care.

Find more information about the Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship here: (PDF file): http://bit.ly/P1HU8K

Application Deadline: December 15, 2012

National Hispanic Heritage Month is commemorated each year between September 15th and October 15th.  It is a time for celebrating the many ways that Hispanic people and culture have enriched America.  It is also a time to remember that our work to close the access to health gap and to improve the health status of Latinos is not done.  Throughout the month, the Office of Minority Health will share information and resources designed to empower, educate and inform.

Check out the website here: http://1.usa.gov/OaTqEs.

You can also follow the Office of Minority Health on Twitter both in English - http://bit.ly/PogIDz - and in Spanish - http://bit.ly/QXpI3Q

Last month, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services launched the Reducing Cancer Among Women of Color App Challenge.  The first-of-its-kind challenge calls on entrepreneurs to create an application for mobile devices that can help underserved and minority women prevent cancer.  HHS aims to reach women – especially women of color- and their caregivers who might not connect with traditional media sources.

“This app challenge is an example of our work to reduce health disparities, building on the HHS Action Plan to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities,” said Nadine Cracia, M.D., M.S.C.E., Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Acting Director of the Office of Minority Health.  ”By providing the right information at the right time, mobile apps can help minority and underserved women make informed decisions about their own health and benefit from the recommend preventive services provided at no cost under the health care law.”

The winning app will be judged on its effectiveness in providing relevant and compelling prevention information to the target audience.  The first place prize is $85,000.  Second and third place winners will receive $10,000 and $5,000 prizes, respectively.

To learn more about the Reducing Cancer Among Women of Color App Challenge, click here: http://1.usa.gov/OXBRCz

Stand Up Against Bullying in Indian Country Public Service Announcement

The Indian Health Service, in partnership with the indian Health Board of Nevada Youth Advisory Council and the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., recently released a powerful public service announcement (PSA) on bullying prevention.  The public service announcement stresses that bullying is not Native and does not honor Native traditions or culture.

View the Anti-Bullying PSA here: http://1.usa.gov/QXm0HE

Print Campaign Against Bullying

The Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, with the support of the Indian Health Service, has produced a set of public education materials to combat the problem of bullying and cyberbullying among Native American adolescents.  The materials explain how to recognize the signs of bullying, how to respond to bullying, and where to get help.

View the anti-bullying materials online here (scroll down): http://1.usa.gov/QXm0HE

More anti-bullying materials can be found on the Stop Bullying web site: http://1.usa.gov/V8Qebn

The Urban Indian Health Institute recently developed a fact sheet describing the impact of the Special Diabetes for Indians (SDPI) on Urban Indian Health Organizations and sharing findings from 10 years of Diabetes Audit data across the UIHOs.  Since the inception of the SDPI, urban American Indians/Alaska Natives have experienced marked improvements in important diabetes outcomes like blood sugar control and cholesterol levels.  SDPI is needed for urban American Indian/Alaska Native communities to continue to make clinical improvements and increase access to quality and culturally appropriate diabetes cares.

Find the SDPI Fact Sheet online here: http://bit.ly/OCJLq9

Office of Minority Health Resource Center: September is Infant Mortality Awareness Month. Resources now available on their website. http://1.usa.gov/Olow6d

In honor of Infant Mortality Awareness Month, Health Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition is announcing the text4baby 2012 Fall Sign-up Contest - http://bit.ly/RMWxCJ  Text4baby is a free, nationwide texting service delivering critical health and safety tips and resoucres to pregnant womens and moms with babies under age one.  During the contest period of Sept. 1 through 30, anyone who enrolls in text4baby will be entered to win a year’s supply of baby products, courtesy of Johnson & Johnson, text4baby’s founding sponsor.  Moms can register online at : http://www.text4baby.org or by texting BABY (or BEBE in Spanish) to 511-411.  The Office of Minority Health is a partner of the text4baby campaign.

Save Babies Through Screening Foundation – New toolkit available for September’s Newborn Screening Awareness Month. The Newborn Screening Awareness Month toolkit. Available here: http://bit.ly/TYKWzF

Advancing Community Approaches to Reducing Infant Mortality.

Minority Infants die before their first birthday at rates as high as twice the national average.  In some urban and underserved areas, the rates of infant mortality among minority are even higher.  Across the country, community-based organizations serving African-American, Latino and Native American families are employing approaches that engage families, neighbors and peers in reducing infant mortality through education and outreach.  Learn about the success of two innovative organizations working to reduce infant mortality here: http://1.usa.gov/RP74Yj

The Office of Minority Health has launched a new online catalog search tool.  Now you can find books, reports, journals, media, articles and organizations related to the health status of racial and ethnic minority populations all online.  Contact the OMH Knowledge Center  by email ( KnowledgeCenter@minorityhealth.hhs.gov ) for guidance on searching the content.

Start searching the online library catalog here: http://1.usa.gov/QSHB62

Funding is available from Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) for small, non-profit organizations to attend this conference, which is primarily for members of community-based efforts (coalitions, grassroots organizations, etc.) and nonprofit organizations that use data to advance their health equity or health disparities work and are willing to learn and share their experience with others: http://bit.ly/UKUu0K

Conducting a thorough assessment of a community’s needs, resources and demographics serves as one of the first and most important steps for anti-drug coalition development. Coalitions can then use this qualitative and quantitative demographic data to guide evidence-based initiatives to address their unique local conditions and target audiences challenged by substance abuse. Community-based organizations can learn to better use this data and other sources of knowledge to promote health equity and address health disparities by attending the National Health Equity Data Conference, entitled “Knowledge for Equity: Using Data to Address Health Disparities,” from Nov. 13-14 in Silver Spring, Md.

“Knowledge for Equity: Using Data to Address Health Disparities” will be designed to support community based efforts to access, analyze, and use existing national, state, or local data. In addition to CADCA, conference partners include Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, The Prevention Institute, PolicyLink, the National Neighborhood Indicators Partnership, and the Community Indicators Consortium. The conference will be held in conjunction with the annual conference of the Community Indicators Consortium (CIC) in College Park, Maryland, on Nov. 15-16.