UnitedHealthcare offers racial disparity education

UnitedHealthcare (UHC) has signed on for an HHS program designed to help doctors treat ethnic minorities more effectively, adding its support to a growing industry movement focusing on differences in minority care. While UHC's participation is limited to Web efforts at the moment, the extent of their outreach efforts to doctors suggests that they're taking the issue seriously.

Working with the HHS Office of Minority Health (OMH), the health plan is launching a website which will offer cultural competency education to its providers. Providers can access the content at the OMH's "Think Cultural Health" website [1], as well as UnitedHealthcare's Spanish-language site and its physician portal [2]. The site's content includes instruction on culturally-appropriate care and language services, as well as what forms of organizational support are available. UnitedHealthcare plans to promote the site, whose courses can be taken for CME credit, to its entire base of 520,000 contracted physicians.

To learn more about the program:
- read this Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal article [3]

ALSO: A new study says the current gap in life expectancy between African-Americans and whites has narrowed. Article [4]

Related Articles:
Study: African Americans don't trust providers. Report [5]
Study: Racial disparities persist in health outcomes. Report [6]
JCAHO asks clinicians to speak plain English. Report [7]