June 1, 2007

New bill addresses unequal access to health care

A statewide coalition of health care advocates, providers, researchers and other community members gathered at the Massachusetts State House May 16 in support of a bill designed to improve health care access for racial and ethnic minorities.

House Bill (HB) 2234, titled "An Act Eliminating Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Commonwealth," was put forward in the legislature by the Disparities Action Network, an advocacy organization working with the MGH Disparities Solutions Center. Joseph Betancourt, MD, MPH, director of the MGH Disparities Solutions Center, testified at the hearing in support of the bill.

The main provision of HB 2234 proposes that the state create a new Office of Health Equity in the Executive Office of Health and Human Services to coordinate efforts among public agencies in Massachusetts seeking to eliminate disparities in health care. Major initiatives planned for the office include support for language interpreter services, the establishment of health literacy standards, promotion of self-management programs for chronic diseases and evaluation of statewide progress on eliminating disparities.

"This legislation would be the first of its kind in the state focused on disparities and would be among only a handful of similar laws in the nation," says Betancourt. "It would help minority patients at the MGH by providing them with support to manage chronic diseases such as diabetes. Through the new Office of Health Equity proposed in the bill, disparities could be monitored statewide, and it also would allow the MGH to target resources to the communities it serves that currently are facing disparities."

A vote on the bill by the Joint Committee on Public Health is expected within the next few weeks.

From left, Betancourt; Nancy Norman, MD, MPH; medical director of the Boston Public Health Commission; Alice Coombs, MD, assistant secretary and treaurer at the Massachusetts Medical Society; Howard Koh, MD, MPH, associate dean for Public Health at Harvard Medical School Public Health; and Lauren Smith,MD, MPH, medical director of the Medical-Legal Partnership for Children at Boston Medical Center