In what way does the lack of racial and ethnic diversity among health care providers influence health care delivery?
Health disparities continue to be a major public health problem confronting the U.S. health care system. These disparities arise from a complex set of factors, including social and economic inequality, cultural and linguistic barriers, and persistent racial and ethnic discrimination. Evidence continues to emerge, however, that some health disparities are attributable to differences in the quality of health care provided to different racial and ethnic groups. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) believes that all patients, regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion, physical or mental disability (or …show more content…
The Institute of Medicine (IOM) defines racial and ethnic disparities in health care as “racial or ethnic differences in the quality of healthcare that are not due to access-related factors or clinical needs, preferences, and appropriateness of intervention.”1 IOM states that “evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare is . . . remarkably consistent across a range of illnesses and healthcare services.” More than 600 articles documenting racial or ethnic variations in health care have been published in the past three decades.