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Aetna Foundation-sponsored Health Affairs Explores State of Health Care Equity

With support from the Aetna Foundation, Health Affairs has devoted its entire October issue to an examination of disparities in health and health care. Titled "Agenda for Fighting Disparities," the new issue features 22 articles by leading health care researchers who explore the relationship of social and economic determinants, the role of specific environmental factors, and disparities in the quality of health care delivered at hospitals, among other topics.

Health Affairs unveiled the October issue on October 6^th at a press briefing in Washington, D.C. Speakers included Aetna Foundation President Anne C. Beal, MD, MPH, and Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, Assistant Secretary for Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Beal provided a commentary for the disparities issue, reviewing the current landscape of health and health care disparities and arguing for a focus on health care quality as a successful strategy to create health equity. Beal's article can be read on the Aetna Foundation website.

"While we have seen great progress in recent years in the reporting of health disparities, the time has now come to concentrate our energies on eliminating them," said Beal. "The many exciting advancements chronicled in the October Health Affairs shows that health equity for all members of our society is within our grasp."

Also featured in the October issue of Health Affairs are articles by several recent Aetna Foundation grant recipients. Among them are:

• Thomas D. Sequist, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School, who earlier this year received a $204,000 grant for the Four Directions Summer Research Program, which provides research opportunities for Native American and Alaska Native college students;

• Lisa Iezzoni, MD, MSc, also of Harvard Medical School and Director of the Mongan Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital, who received a $250,000 research grant in 2011 to study the impact of integrated care on patients with multiple chronic conditions;

• Paula Braveman, MD, MPH, Director of the Center on Social Disparities in Health at the University of California, San Francisco, who received a $238,000 research grant to explore the underlying factors contributing to higher rates of primary cesarean delivery among African-American women in California;

• Ruth Fesahazion, a member of the first cohort of the AcademyHealth/Aetna Foundation Minority Scholars Program.

Racial and ethnic health care equity is one of the Aetna Foundation's three program areas. In 2010, Aetna and the Aetna Foundation awarded $1.24 million in research grants to address racial and ethnic disparities in health care.

This year, 2011, also marks the 10^th anniversary of Aetna's initiative to actively target and address racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The company was the first insurer to invite its members to voluntarily share racial and ethnic information. Millions of people have participated since the effort began, helping Aetna better understand how to design programs to promote health equity.

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The October issue of Health Affairs, available today, explores health disparities and features a commentary by Aetna Foundation President Anne Beal and several Aetna Foundation grant recipients.
 

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