Addressing Health Care Disparities through Race, Ethnicity and Language (REaL) Data

COVID-19 has spotlighted existing disparities in care amongst primarily African American, LatinX and Native Americans communities across the country. Leveraging data and analytic capabilities allow hospitals, health systems and their teams of dedicated caregivers to understand the challenges and barriers to accessing care. By collecting and stratifying race, ethnicity and language (REaL) patient preference data, hospitals and health systems have the ability to recognize disparities in patient groups at a much faster rate. The AHA’s Institute for Diversity and Health Equity has developed new REaL data resource brief with explanations, web links, answers to frequently asked questions and case study examples of how hospitals are using REaL data to their advantage.