National Minority Health Month Focus is Cultural Proficiency

Minorities often have less access to care; receive lower-quality care; and have higher rates of illness, injury and premature death than does the general population, according to the Institute of Medicine's 2003 report "Unequal Treatment: Confronting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care." The problem is so great that HHS has issued a call to end health disparities by 2010.

National Minority Health Month was established in 1998 by the National Minority Health Month Foundation to increase awareness about health disparity issues affecting minority populations. The Foundation, which recently changed its name to the National Minority Quality Forum, works to "eliminate health disparities through innovation collaboration and evidence-based solutions."

Part of improving care for minority patients is consideration of their cultures and the need to reframe conversations to reflect those differences during patient encounters. That is why the AAFP, which has been a part of National Minority Health Month since 2003, selected cultural proficiency as its focus for the program this April.

To help family physicians understand the importance of this issue and incorporate it into their practices, several related resources are posted on the Academy's Web site, including

Several publications, including a report from the Institute of Medicine, discuss the importance of addressing cultural proficiency, such as the link between physician-patient communication and patient satisfaction and the importance that emphasizing patient-centered care and cultural competence have on improving quality of care.

In addition, the National Minority Health Care Foundation and AMA will host the Annual Leadership Summit on Health Disparities in Washington, D.C., on April 23-24. The summit will feature sessions on improving quality of care for minorities, disparities in treatment outcomes for minorities with cardiovascular disease, managing diabetes in minorities, and reducing cancer disparities in minorities. Audrey Boyd, M.D., of Columbia, S.C., former chair of the AAFP Commission on Health of the Public, will represent the AAFP.