Four New Papers on Medicare’s Role in Reducing Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care

For Immediate Release: June 2, 2005
Contact: Jill Braunstein at (202) 452-8097 or at jillbraun@nasi.org

WASHINGTON, DC – Four new papers were released this week on reducing racial and ethnic disparities in Medicare by a study panel of the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI). The papers were commissioned as part of the work of NASI’s study panel to examine how Medicare can strengthen its role in reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care. The panel is chaired by Bruce C. Vladeck, Principal at Ernst & Young and former HCFA (now CMS) Administrator. “With the burgeoning literature on disparities in health care, it’s increasingly hard to find truly original ideas. The NASI study panel has been fortunate that these authors have produced such a creative and thoughtful array of interesting work,” said Vladeck. The commissioned papers are based on panel-identified gaps in the literature and/or issues that the panel felt would benefit from further research or thought. They are listed below and all are available for download free-of-charge from www.nasi.org:

• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Medicare: What the Department of Health and Human Services and the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Can, and Should, Do by Timothy Stoltzfus Jost, School of Law, Washington and Lee University
• CMS’ Programs and Initiatives to Reduce Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Medicare by Ellen O’Brien, Health Policy Institute, Georgetown University
• Individual Physicians or Organized Processes: How Can Disparities in Clinical Care be Reduced? by Lawrence Casalino, M.D., Department of Health Studies, University of Chicago
• Medicare Race and Ethnicity Data by Marshall McBean, Division of Health Services Research and Policy, University of Minnesota

The study panel itself will publish a final report expected in December 2005 with specific recommendations to reduce racial and ethnic health disparities among Medicare beneficiaries and throughout the health care system. The project is funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The California Endowment, and the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

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The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up of the nation’s leading experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding and informed policymaking on social insurance and related programs through research, public education, and the open exchange of ideas.