National Partnership for Action (NPA) to End Health Disparities

The National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities (NPA) is the next step. The NPA is intended to lead OMH and its partners toward a shared destination: a Nation free of health disparities, with quality health outcomes among racial and ethnic minority populations.

The NPA is an initiative of the U S Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health in partnership with a broad, diverse array of partners. The NPA is intended to serve as a catalyst for leadership action around five core objectives:

• Increased awareness of health disparities;
• Strengthened leadership at all levels;
• Improved patient-provider communication;
• Improved cultural and linguistic competency;
• Improved coordination and utilization of research and evaluation outcomes.

The NPA will be implemented at the local, state, region (based on DHHS designations) and the national level. Together, experts, practitioners, leaders, stakeholders and partners from the public and private sectors can continue to construct strategies and actions, and shape policies, that in support of these objectives. The series of meetings, “conversations”, taking place throughout Ohio and the nation are designed to:

• Identify and acknowledge the social, economic, cultural and behavioral underlying factors and contributors that cause health disparities;
• Examine the intersection of health disparities, health care access, health care programs and services;
• Identify programs that successfully serve the needs of minority populations within communities;
• Critically examine the role of policy, and the intended and unintended consequences on minority populations;
• Determine “best ways” to address critical health gaps among populations and specific diseases;
• Identify solutions, methods and programs that will address these gaps, improve the effectiveness of existing programs and more efficiently apply resources.

The DHHS Office of Minority Health conducted the Region V (Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Minnesota) conversation in Columbus in October 2007.