The Rhode Island Commission of Health Advocacy and Equity: Developing a Report on Health Disparities (Parts A, B, & C)
Citation:
Christina Ratleff, Reginald Tucker-Seeley. 2019. The Rhode Island Commission of Health Advocacy and Equity: Developing a Report on Health Disparities (Parts A, B, & C). Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health case collection, Harvard Business Publishing.Abstract:
In 2011, the Rhode Island (RI) legislature established the Commission on Health Equity and charged this group with writing a report on health disparities every two years. The case protagonist, Dr. Harper Avery, Director of Minority Health at the RI Department of Health, has recently assumed the co-chair position on the Commission of Health Advocacy and Equity in RI. Through the experiences of Dr. Avery, the reader sees the issues involved when a multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral group must work together to create the health disparities/health equity report. Such issues include how to define “health disparities” and related terms, what health outcomes and behaviors to choose to report, where to get the data required for the report, and how to measure disparities with the data obtained. Additionally, the reader is encouraged to consider the multiple perspectives of the Commission members and the various constituencies they represent. This case study takes the students through the process of developing a state-level health disparities report.