The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of the U.S. people and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).
Louis Wade Sullivan is an active health policy leader, minority health advocate, author, physician, and educator. He served as the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services during President George H. W. Bush's Administration and was Founding Dean of the Morehouse School of Medicine.
Dwight Tillery is an American politician and social justice activist with more than 50 years of service working towards equity for African Americans and other minorities in politics, business and public health. His leadership transformed the lives of Black residents in the city of Cincinnati in the areas of racial justice, education, civics, community health and politics. Tillery was the first popularly elected Black Mayor in Cincinnati, Ohio, serving from 1991-1993, and he served on the Cincinnati City Council for 8 years. Tillery co-founded the United Black Students Association at the University of Cincinnati, was the Founder, President and CEO of The Center for Closing the Health Gap, and co-founded The Black Agenda of Cincinnati. Tillery also served as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Cincinnati and at Miami University.
The Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) is a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of the United States Department of Health and Human Services. HRSA helps fund, staff and support a national network of health clinics for people who otherwise would have little or no access to care. BPHC funds health centers in underserved communities, providing access to high quality, family oriented, comprehensive primary and preventive health care for people who are low-income, uninsured or face other obstacles to getting health care.
Health equity arises from access to the social determinants of health, specifically from wealth, power and prestige. Individuals who have consistently been deprived of these three determinants are significantly disadvantaged from health inequities, and face worse health outcomes than those who are able to access certain resources. It is not equity to simply provide every individual with the same resources; that would be equality. In order to achieve health equity, resources must be allocated based on an individual need-based principle.
The Royal Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada, also known as the Romanow Report, is a committee study led by Roy Romanow on the future of health care in Canada. It was delivered in November 2002.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health is a governmental agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts with various responsibilities related to public health within that state. It is headquartered in Boston and headed by Commissioner Robbie Goldstein, MD, PhD.
The Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) is a part of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions (HCHDS), a research center within the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, strives to eradicate disparities in health and health care among racial and ethnic groups, socioeconomic groups, and geopolitical categories such as urban, rural, and suburban populations.
The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is the state department responsible for public health in California. It is a subdivision of the California Health and Human Services Agency. It enforces some of the laws in the California Health and Safety Codes, notably the licensing of some types of healthcare facilities. One of its functions is to oversee vital records operations throughout the state.
Various topics in medicine relate particularly to the health of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals as well as other sexual and gender minorities. According to the US National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, these areas include sexual and reproductive health, mental health, substance use disorders, HIV/AIDS, HIV-related cancers, intimate partner violence, issues surrounding marriage and family recognition, breast and cervical cancer, inequities in healthcare and access to care. In medicine, various nomenclature, including variants of the acronym LGBTQIA+, are used as an umbrella term to refer to individuals who are non-heterosexual, non-heteroromantic, or non-cis gendered. Specific groups within this community have their own distinct health concerns, however are often grouped together in research and discussions. This is primarily because these sexual and gender minorities groups share the effects of stigmatization based on their gender identity or expression, and/or sexual orientation or affection orientation. Furthermore, there are subpopulations among LGBTQIA+ groups based on factors such as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, geographic location, and age, all of which can impact healthcare outcomes.
Health Disparities Centers are institutions in the United States that cover a broad range of needs and focus areas to decrease currently disproportionate illness and disease rates that lead to health disparities. They also promote the engagement, empowerment and recruitment of underrepresented populations in health professions. Many programs devote significant resources to developing cultural competency training to promote the delivery of culturally sensitive healthcare by faculty and staff, as well as current and future healthcare providers. These services are usually tailored to meeting specific goals or missions of the individual components common in most of the operating Health Disparities Centers.
Societal racism is a type of racism based on a set of institutional, historical, cultural and interpersonal practices within a society that places one or more social or ethnic groups in a better position to succeed and disadvantages other groups so that disparities develop between the groups. Societal racism has also been called structural racism, because, according to Carl E. James, society is structured in a way that excludes substantial numbers of people from minority backgrounds from taking part in social institutions. Societal racism is sometimes referred to as systemic racism as well.
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE) is the principal advisory group to the United States Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on policy development and provides coordination and support for HHS's strategic and policy planning, planning and development of legislation, program evaluation, data gathering, policy-related research, and regulatory program.
Patient navigators educate and assist United States citizens in enrolling into health benefit plans stipulated in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA). Patient navigators are also called "insurance navigators" or "in-person assisters" who have defined roles under the ACA. Although their roles might overlap, patient navigators are not community health workers or health advocates. "Navigators" work in states with Federally-Facilitated Exchanges (FFEs) or State Partnership Exchanges.
The White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (WHIAANHPI) is a United States governmental office that coordinates an ambitious whole-of-government approach to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders. The Initiative collaborates with the Deputy Assistant to the President and AA and NHPI Senior Liaison, White House Office of Public Engagement and designated federal departments and agencies to advance equity, justice, and opportunity for AA and NHPIs in the areas of economic development, education, health and human services, housing, environment, arts, agriculture, labor and employment, transportation, justice, veterans affairs, and community development.
Cultural competence in healthcare refers to the ability for healthcare professionals to demonstrate cultural competence toward patients with diverse values, beliefs, and feelings. This process includes consideration of the individual social, cultural, and psychological needs of patients for effective cross-cultural communication with their health care providers. The goal of cultural competence in health care is to reduce health disparities and to provide optimal care to patients regardless of their race, gender, ethnic background, native languages spoken, and religious or cultural beliefs. Cultural competency training is important in health care fields where human interaction is common, including medicine, nursing, allied health, mental health, social work, pharmacy, oral health, and public health fields.
Monica S. Webb Hooper is an American behavioral scientist and clinical psychologist serving as deputy director of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. She was a professor at Case Western Reserve University and associate director for cancer disparities research and director of the Office of Cancer Disparities Research in the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The Heckler Report, officially the Report of the Secretary's Task Force on Black and Minority Health, was a landmark 1985 report published by the US Government. It is named after Margaret Heckler, who was Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services from 1983 to 1985. The Heckler Report investigated racial and ethnic disparities in health in the United States.
The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) is a nonprofit legal and policy advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969. The mission of the organization is to protect and advance the health and civil rights of low-income and undeserved individuals and families in the United States. The organization addresses these rights through litigation, policy advocacy, and technical assistance to state partners.
