The Importance Of Race And Ethnicity Data In Healthcare

Collecting data on race and ethnicity can be beneficial in so many ways, especially within the healthcare field. Healthcare involves a diverse set of public and private data collection systems, which uses surveys and other tools to collect data on race, ethnicity, language and other medical conditions. Collecting additional data during patient encounters could possibly fill quite a few significant gaps, however, this method is likely to yield data on unreliable information, and it can become time consuming and impractical, mainly considering the challenge of collecting data on individuals who do not acquire care regularly. Surveys sent to all enrollees for whom racial or ethnic data are missing can help to fill gaps, as has been the case for Medicare.
On the other hand, the negative side to collect data is time consuming, very expensive and also responses maybe less honest and thoughtful. The key methods for improving the accuracy of collecting race and ethnicity data is to keep individuals’ information private and their identity anonymous. These methods will be useful especially when it comes to recognizing health disparities between races and ethnicity and how health conditions affect each race. It will also help scientists and doctors to understand what triggers certain health problems in different races and