Office of Minority Health

Grantee
Utah Department of Health - Division of Family and Health Preparedness
Salt Lake City, UT 84114

Project: Improve health outcomes for racial/ethnic minorities in Utah
Amount: $130,000

The Utah Office of Health Disparities is located within the Office of Minority Health, which is part of the Department of Health. The Office of Health Disparities focuses its efforts on improving the health of major racial and ethnic minority groups such as blacks/African Americans, Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders and Hispanics/Latinos. In Utah, a separate division is responsible for American Indian health.

Project Abstract

The purpose of this project is to address social determinants of health in an effort to reduce and eventually eliminate health disparities in low birth weight, diabetes and asthma outcomes among African Americans, Hispanics and Pacific Islanders living in urban settings (“the Wasatch Front”), where the vast majority of Utah’s minority residents live. Utah is using a variety of activities for this project, all of which fall under five overarching strategies: 

• Increasing awareness of health disparities
• Strengthening leadership and collaboration for addressing health disparities
• Improving health and health care outcomes for racial/ethnic and underserved populations
• Improving the cultural and linguistic competence and diversity of the health-related workforce
• Improving data availability and the coordination, utilization and diffusion of research activities and evaluation outcomes

Specific outcomes and performance measures are linked to each of the strategies. Outcomes include increased awareness of a) health disparities, b) actions necessary to improve health outcomes, c) motivation to address disparities and d) policy and systems changes to support healthy lifestyles, as well as increased screenings in the community, to name a few.

Performance measures include but are not limited to: the number of news stories based on Office of Health Disparities press releases and reports, number of policy changes resulting from the office’s efforts, and number of community members screened and referred for health services. The state of Utah will conduct a process evaluation to measure its work.

Objectives

• Increased awareness, education and outreach to address racial/ethnic minority health and health disparities problems
• Improved access to, and appropriate utilization of, health and other community-based services and systems through user-centered design for racial/ethnic minorities (e.g., health IT, culturally/ linguistically appropriate services, service provider education/ training, workforce diversity)
• Strengthened leadership and coordination to leverage resources and enhance effectiveness and efficiency of individual and collective efforts (including, but not limited to, research and data)