Office of Minority Health

Grantee Information

Puerto Rico Department of Health
GPO Box 70184, San Juan, PR 00936
(787) 765-2929 (Phone)
(787)274-5739 (Fax)
http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/content.aspx?ID=8064&lvl=2&lvlID=6

The Puerto Rico Office of Minority Health was created to assess the health care needs of special populations and to act as a focal point of information and policy coordination for communities, consumers, health providers and policymakers on issues that have an impact on the residents of the island.

Grant Project Information

Puerto Rico Observatory on Human Resources for Health
$140,000
Evelyn Laureano-Osorio
(787) 765-2929
elaureano@salud.gov.pr

Abstract

This State Partnership project seeks to reduce health disparities in Puerto Rico and increase the quality of health care. It intends to improve coordination and collaboration among state and territorial public health offices and improve diversity in the health care workforce. A performance assessment showed that Puerto Rico needs to strengthen its health workforce in order to enhance the performance of its health system. However, Puerto Rico does not have a centralized system that provides information on the health care workforce and therefore there is a lack of reliable and instant data needed for evidence-based decision making and policy development. In order to address these issues, the primary activity of the project is to establish an Observatory on Human Resources for Health in Puerto Rico to handle operation issues, including facilitating linkages and communication among health care providers, coordinating meetings and implementing data collection and analysis activities. The Observatory will help strengthen human resource information system by pinpointing a core data set, developing tools for data collection and supporting data analysis. It is expected that as a result of this project, there will be a better understanding among the stakeholders about human resource issues in the health care system. An evaluation will be conducted to determine the effectiveness of this project. The evaluator will collect data from progress reports, censuses, surveys and administrative records of health services.

OMH objective(s) toward which the project's results most contribute:

• 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)

Key Healthy People 2010 objectives or subobjectives toward which your project's results most contribute (see Appendix 3 of OMH's Evaluation Planning Guidelines):

Healthy People objectives were not identified.