Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Patients Get the Message Across

The Greater Detroit Area Health Council is taking an innovative approach to reducing disparities in care. Through locally produced videos, the collaborative is leveraging local voices to increase understanding of Race, ethnicity and language (REAL) data collection and to improve blood pressure control among black patients with hypertension. GDAHC first built community support through its multi-stakeholder REAL committee, comprised of representatives from community-based organizations, providers large and small, payers, consumers and state officials. Providers recommended patients for focus group discussions, which also served as a place to identify strong candidates to star in the videos. Though the stories are still in production, positive outcomes are already being reported from the focus group sessions.