While the United States boasts the most advanced health care system in the world, numerous health and access disparities still exist between many minority groups and the white, non-Hispanic population. The AMA is working to address those disparities, both on its own and together with outside organizations.

Most recently, the AMA entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Henry J. Kaiser Foundation to partner on a nationwide initiative to increase medical professionals’ awareness about racial and ethnic disparities in cardiac care. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, heart disease death rates are more than 40 percent higher for African-Americans than for whites.

The Kaiser initiative, which will be supported by the AMA, will develop educational materials and programming on racial and ethnic disparities in cardiac care, and it will place educational ads nationally in journals, newsletters and newspapers.

“While there are many possible factors that could account for racial disparities in health care, physicians are key to making sure that all patients get necessary care,” says one of the ads.

In November, the AMA hosted a conference in Chicago to explore ways population-based medicine could be used to reduce health outcome disparities. Held in conjunction with the Chicago Medical Society and the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, the conference covered approaches that target specific groups of patients identified by common demographic characteristics, risk factors or diseases.