Prompt: Research one of the three ACA reforms below and comment on how you feel the reform will influence health care disparities (i.e. health care disparities in particular, not health disparities in general). You may want to consider the potential strengths of and challenges to implementing the reform when writing your paper. Increasing diversity in the health care workforce by providing incentives to diverse individuals to join the health care workforce, as well as incentives to health care professionals who work in underserved populations (e.g. rural, Native American reservations, etc) Improving awareness of disparities and their determinants by mandating collection of better patient outcome data on race, ethnicity, and language, and by increasing funding support for research to examine health disparities Improving cultural competence of health care professionals by requiring and providing additional support for cultural competence training as part of licensing or continuing education requirements for these professionals, and enforcing CLAS guidelines

 

Diversity in the Health Workforce

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Diversity in the Health Workforce

In the united states health care workforce, the ethnic and racial minorities are underrepresented. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) reforms will impact of the healthcare disparity in the United States as it would diversify the health care workforce by allowing greater participation of minorities. The provision of incentives ensured that the racial and ethnic minorities get an opportunity to work in the healthcare industry (Hunt, 2007). For instance, the investment in the national health service corps (NHSC) which provided scholarship and the repayments of loans to the health professionals working in rural and poor areas most of whom are ethnic and racial minorities.

In addition, the Health Career Opportunity Programs (HCOP) and the nursing workforce diversity program offered scholarships for disadvantaged students most of which were from the minority groups which were underrepresented (Cohen, Gabriel, & Terrell, 2002). The Centers for Excellence (COE) funded black, Hispanic and other schools and colleges to support academic performance of the underrepresented groups and facilitate further research on the issues affecting minorities in the United States. Moreover, the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program facilitated training and education of the minority groups and Community Health Workforce grants funded the communities who were medically underserved such as the ethnic and racial minorities groups.

Therefore, increasing the diversity in the healthcare workforce will positively influence the disparity of the healthcare workforce as the ethnic and racial minorities will be adequately represented (Cohen, Gabriel, & Terrell, 2002). The provision of incentives will allow greater participation or the ethnic and racial minorities in the healthcare industry through joining the healthcare workforce and motivated to work in the underserved populations.

References

Hunt, B. (2007). Managing equality and cultural diversity in the health workforce. Journal of

 

Clinical Nursing, 16(12), 2252-2259.

 

Cohen, J. J., Gabriel, B. A., & Terrell, C. (2002). The case for diversity in the health care

 

workforce. Health affairs, 21(5), 90-102.