Topic
Select Populations and Health Disparities
In its work around select populations, the IOM examines significant health concerns that may affect groups of individuals categorized by common occupation, environment, health condition or characteristics, or a shared exposure to a unique health risk. Of particular note are the IOM’s efforts around racial and ethnic disparities in health and health care.
Reports Related to Select Populations and Health Disparities
Report Releases
Latest Report
Released: September 2, 2009
Socioeconomic conditions are known to have profound and long-term effects on health at all stages of life, from pregnancy through childhood and adulthood. Sensitive and critical periods of development, such as the prenatal period and early childhood, present significant opportunities to influence lifelong health. Yet simply intervening in the health care system is insufficient to influence health outcomes early in life. On January 24, 2008, the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Health Disparities and Board on Children, Youth, and Families cohosted a public workshop to discuss the important foundations of adult health that are laid prenatally and in early childhood.
Most Viewed Report
Released: August 31, 2009
The quality of health care in the United States is not optimal, and the pace of improvement is slow. In addition, disparities persist for specific population groups. A fundamental step in identifying which populations are most at risk is to col¬lect data on race, ethnicity, and English-language proficiency. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) formed the Subcommittee on Standardized Col¬lection of Race/Ethnicity Data for Healthcare Quality Improvement to examine ap¬proaches to standardization. In its 2009 report, Race, Ethnicity, and Language Data: Standardization for Health Care Quality Improvement, the subcommittee recommends collection of more granular ethnicity and language need according to national standards in addition to OMB race and Hispanic ethnicity categories.
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