(2009) Safety net health systems are committed to eliminating health care disparities by providing access to high-quality health care to all patients regardless of income, race, culture, or ethnicity—a cornerstone of health reform.

(December 2008) NAPH conducted a study in 2008 on promising, replicable public hospital practices that are successfully reducing health care disparites in member hospitals. This Research Brief identifies organizational models to address health care equity, as well as characteristcs and common themes of disparities-reducing activities.

(September 2008) Through a generous grant provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health, the National Public Health and Hospital Institute (NPHHI) - NAPH's research affiliate - released "Assuring Healthcare Equity: A Healthcare Equity Blueprint" in September 2008. In developing the Blueprint, NPHHI combined the expertise of national health care disparities leaders, experience of NAPH members, strategies for quality improvement designed by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and the research knowledge of The Disparities Solutions Center at Massachusetts General Hospital. The Blueprint serves as a guide for all hospitals and providers, and offers strategies to address disparities through interventions that can be tailored to the individual hospital setting.

(April 2007) All public hospitals — as recipients of federal financial assistance — must ensure that individuals receive all necessary and appropriate care, regardless of language spoken, yet there is often little or no reimbursement available for supporting language programs or encouraging innovation in culturally and linguistically appropriate care.  This Research Brief summarizes state reimbursement policies for language services, and profiles several states that assist hospitals directly by paying for language services in either inpatient or outpatient settings.

(January 2007) Because NAPH members care for an extremely diverse patient population, they have ample opportunities to become laboratories for efforts to reduce racial and ethnic health care disparities. This Research Brief describes NAPH members' efforts related to cultural competency, language access, and health care quality that focus upon eliminating racial and ethnic disparities in care.