COLORADO HEALTH DISPARITIES CONFERENCE

October 1-2, 2004

Denver, Colorado

Sponsored by the

University of Colorado Denver

The Office of

The Honorable Peter Groff

Colorado State Senator

AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals

Foreword by The Honorable Peter Groff

We are pleased that so many people took the time from their busy schedule to participate in this critically important conference.  Health disparities in Colorado and nationally are part of the equity gap that exist in America.  That gap, which depicts the disparity of quality of life in America, needs to be closed to ensure that future generations can enjoy the wonders and opportunities of America.  Together we can work to eliminate health disparities in Colorado and ensure a better quality of life for all Coloradans.  That journey to zero and a better quality of life begins today. 

Introduction

Deficient health care has been documented for virtually all ethnic minority groups across the nation. A number of major and independent reviews have demonstrated tragic ethnic disparities in health care, most notably the Institute of Medicine “Unequal treatment: confronting racial and ethnic disparities in health care” and the Physicians for Human Rights “The right to equal treatment.”  The causes for these disparities are multiple and inter-related involving environmental reasons such as socio-economic status, physical and biological status, as well as behavioral and culturally-mediated risk factors, and access to care. Perhaps even more dramatic are the more recently acknowledged differences in the quality, intensity and comprehensiveness of the care provided to minority patients involving among other causes, uncomfortable concepts such as bias, stereotyping, racism and prejudice.  The evidence of such differences is robust and undeniable, and demands action.

Colorado, with its increasingly large minority population, is no exception to this tragedy. A number of initiatives across the state have started to address the gap between ethnic groups involving grass root groups, community-based organizations, insurers, policy makers, academic centers, as well as regional and state health departments. The Colorado Health Disparities Conference held in October 2004 at the University of Colorado Fitzsimons campus represents one of such initiatives and assembled some of the major players engaged in the battle against health disparities.

The impetus for this conference jointly sponsored by the University of Colorado and the office of The Honorable Colorado State Senator Peter Groff came from the first national health disparities conference of the National Hispanic and Black Caucuses of State Legislators held in November 2003 in Arizona. During that event, state legislators belonging to the two caucuses were alerted to the appalling health statistics affecting minorities and responded to the call to action.  This was further reinforced during a second conference again bringing together the two caucuses in August 2004. Senator Groff found fertile ground for the continuation of that discussion at the University of Colorado where several initiatives are already in place aiming at providing equal care to all ethnic groups.

The purpose of the Colorado conference was to brainstorm solutions for the health discrepancies seen in our state and provide recommendations to the newly created Office of Health Disparities of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The list of participants and the organizations they represent (Appendix G)  is at the end of this executive summary and include academic experts in areas related to health disparities, representatives of the newly created Colorado Office of Health Disparities and of the state health department, community-based organizations, local providers involved in the care of minorities, legislators, medical students, and journalists. This report summarizes the presentations by some of the nationally recognized local experts who spoke at this meeting and the recommendations by the attendees.  Examples of health disparities statistics is included, however the reader is referred to more complete and continuously update resources for more detailed statistics in health disparities such as:

The Final Report in pdf format  click here

    Dr. Estevan Flores' PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

    Reverend Grant Jones' PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

     Dr. Rickie C. Keys' PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

    Judy McCree and Elizabeth Krause PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

    Dr. Spero Manson's PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

    Dr. Angela Sauaia's PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

    Dr. James Shore's PowerPoint Presentation in pdf format click here

List of preregistered attendees may be accessed click here